Nokia calls Chennai for its new plant

‘‘Establishing a new factory in India is an important step in the continuous development of our global manufacturing network. Skilled labour, friendly business environment, support from state government, good logistics connection and overall cost efficiency criteria made us choose Chennai,’’ Nokia President Pekka Ala-Pietila said in the statement.

India has emerged as a hot spot for global handset and telecom gear makers as low wireless penetration and the cheapest call rates in the world are pulling in some two million new users a month.

‘‘Mobile penetration in Asia Pacific is expected to be a major contributor to the global mobile subscriber base surpassing the 2 billion mark by the end of 2005,’’ Nokia said. Therefore, India, which is set at the heart of the region, was a natural choice for the new facility, it said.

Nokia had announced plans in December to make phones in India, seeking to tap strong subscriber growth there and keep costs low amid rising competition from rivals like South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and US firm Motorola Inc.