‘In our world, spectrum is the water through the deserts’ —Chris Houghton Ericsson
‘Reinventing’ is the mantra to stay afloat in any business and Ericsson, one of the oldest MNCs in India, believes in the same. From mere telecom gear maker to connected cars, Ericsson today has a diverse range of offerings. In India, it works with all the top telcos and wants to offer ‘bang for the buck’ kind of solutions. As the India revenue share for the company grew from 3% to 4% in 2013-14 fiscal, the company exudes immense confidence in the market and says ‘growth is good in any business.’ In a chit-chat with Voice & Data, Chris Houghton, Head of Region India , Ericsson, talks about spectrum being the lifeline of telecommunications, the company’s manufacturing plants, among other things.
Voice & Data: One of the most heartening things has been that India’s revenue share for Ericsson globally has gone up from 3% to 4%. From Ericsson’ perspective, it’s an important achievement but 3% does not really sound that exciting. So, what’s the big deal about growing from 3% to 4%?
Chris Houghton: The important thing for us is growth. Rankings of countries can change with time. The ranking within the company is important, but more important is to do a good job and to get recognized by our customers who want us to supply the best networks. Fortunately, the economic environment seems to be getting better, the regulatory environment is looking forward. Growth is good in any business and particularly after what the Indian telecom sector has gone through, it’s nice to be a part of it.
Voice&Data: Our estimates have been that in the last 2013-14 fiscal, the telecom equipment market grew by about 10-11% but your growth was close to 25%. How did you manage it?
Chris Houghton: I think it’s all hard work by lots of people to be honest. We now see the mobile broadband and mobile Internet taking off in India. We have a great experience on mobile broadband whichever country it is, whether Korea, Japan, or US. We have been to these countries and we have seen how to