When announcing it will manufacture LTE equipment in Brazil, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) said it aims to get a 35% market share. “Our worldwide market share in LTE is significant. We have 52 LTE contracts around the globe, and we believe this same performance will be repeated in Brazil,” Eduardo Araújo, NSN president for the Latin America region, told RCR Wireless News.
Araújo also said that NSN is investing between U.S.$3 million and $5 million for the first stage of local manufacturing. The company will manufacture with a local partner, whose name is still secret, located in the south or southeast region.
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Nokia Siemens Networks announced its decision to produce in Brazil after the Brazilian telecommunication agency Anatel included national technology percentages for procurement of goods, products, equipment and systems for telecommunication and data networks in its LTE auction rules. According to the bidding document, the percentage for the acquisition of goods and products with national technology will be 60% from 2012 to 2014, 65% from 2015 to 2016, and 70% from 2017 to 2022. The auction rules were released earlier this year.
“Producing locally has been in NSN’s plans for about two years,” Araújo said.
NSN said that manufacturing will start during the third quarter of this year. Locally the company will produce its Flexi Multiradio Base Station (BTS) , a radio access solution for 2G, 3G and LTE (FDD/TDD).
When asked if Brazilian production could supply other Latin American countries, Araújo said there is nothing set yet. “It depends on bilateral agreements and taxation. At first, the production aims to serve the Brazilian market, but yes, it could reach other countries,” said Araújo.
Regarding how long it will take NSN to reach a 35% LTE equipment market share, Araújo said it was difficult to predict though he noted it might not take too long, since carriers have coverage targets. “What will drive demand is the evolution of networks with regard to the rules. We believe LTE deployment will be faster than we originally anticipated,” he said.
Nokia Siemens Networks forecasts that there will be 12 million LTE users in Brazil over the next few years. In February, Wilson Cardoso, NSN’s head of technology for Latin America, told RCR Wireless News that this number is higher than others analysts’ forecasts and explained that the company projected 12 million users based on the 4G auction’s framework.
Brazil auctioned its LTE spectrum last week with four big carriers securing licenses to provide the next generation of telecommunication services.
