In a bid to lower costs of GSM rollouts in emerging markets, Motorola is turning to local manufacturing of GSM products to be supplied to local mobile operators currently engaged in network buildouts.
Starting in India, Motorola will begin production of its Reach Strongbox product, an outdoor enclosure for Motorola's Horizon II macro Base Transceiver Station (BTS). Phased production of 1,300 unit shipments has started and will serve major mobile carriers in India.
The strategy is expected to bring lower production costs and incur lower duties and taxes. Ultimately, this will also lower rollout costs for operators in emerging markets, with China and Africa expected to be included in 2007.
'The strategy to produce portions of the Reach GSM equipment locally demonstrates our commitment and investment to providing low-cost solutions for rural and urban cellsite deployments,' said Mohammad Akhtar, VP, global product management GSM/UMTS, Motorola Sales and Services.
The Reach Strongbox enclosure enables a 2G to 3G upgrade by housing the Motorola Horizon 3G-n Node B, or a combined 2G and 3G operation using a 3G-n Fiber upgrade to the Strongbox enclosure.
Akhtar told the Show Daily that local manufacturing of products like Strongbox will help lower initial capital and also operating expenditures for mobile carriers. 'We will look at the environmental situations in each market, particularly in remote areas, and determine how a local product strategy can benefit the operators,' said Akhtar.