 "Nokia Siemens Network may lose Kolkata factory plot to state govt")
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) may lose its 9 acre plot in Kolkata to the state government, if they do not provide them with an alternate land utilisation plan, for after July 31.
According to Times of India, NSN had only recently announced that it will be shutting down its Kolkata telecom factory on July 31, in line with its global decision to sell non-profitable wireline assets worldwide, to reduce losses. The state government now wants the company to keep up with an earlier pledge of setting up an IT-cum-telecom park on the land, once the factory shuts down. A top state bureaucrat was quoted as saying, “The state government will shortly write to Siemens AG to vacate the land, post-shutdown of NSN’s telecom factory since it has failed to come up with an alternate land utilisation plan.”
Need to come up with an alternate land utilisation plan
The land on which the factory currently stands, was allotted to Siemens on a 99-year long term lease roughly 15 years ago, by the state government.
The official added that considering Siemens has not given them a final word on what they plan to do with the land, despite the closure notice coming by, they will soon ask them to either set up the park or vacate the land. He mentioned that there is a “serious paucity of quality land for greenfield tech ventures in Kolkata”.
Those keenly following the developments pertaining to the Nokia Siemens Networks - a 50-50 joint venture between Nokia and Siemens in recent months, would know of the restructuring that it had resorted to. Last year, it had been reported that the company was in plans of laying off a significant chunk of its staff and selling product lines, as part of a cost-cutting plan. In fact, soon after it made that announcement it was reported, that it was moving ahead with its restructuring plan faster than expected. In his statement to Reuters, NSN Chief Executive Rajeev Suri had said, “It is on track … I would even say that we are some way ahead of our original plan in reducing our workforce.”
Reportedly, its decision to shut its Kolkata landline products factory came about as a result of rapidly falling order-book position together with their refocus on mobile broadband.
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