Even as the company increased its sales from Rs 194.9 crore in the fiscal 2000-01 to Rs 216 crore in the fiscal 2001-02 (a growth of 10.8 percent), its net profit was down to Rs 7.4 crore from Rs 12.8 crore in the previous year. The company had achieved a 26 percent growth in 2000-01 and had also managed to come out of the negative growth in profit that year. However this time, it appears that the pressure on OFC prices has hit its bottomline.

Birla Ericsson has an installed capacity for producing 36,414 optical fiber cable km per annum. The company has a fully computerized system for process monitoring and quality control for cable production, to ensure consistency and reliability of transmission parameters. The company also manufactures specialty cables for use in LANs and cable TV networks.

Birla Ericsson is among the earliest entrants in the OFC manufacturing business in India. Later, it also diversified into jelly-filled copper telephone cables and switchboard cables for switching equipment. It has an installed capacity to produce 33.67 lakh conductor km of copper cables per annum. BSNL, MTNL, Indian Railways, Power Grid Corporation of India, private basic service operators, and Internet service providers form its customer list. An ISO 9002 company, Birla Ericsson has technical and financial collaboration with Ericsson Cables AB of Sweden.

Birla Ericsson Optical TURNOVER FACTSHEET MD : DR Bansal Area of Operation : Telecom cables Address : Udyog Vihar, PO Chorhata Tel  : 07662-20312 - 20319 Fax : 07662-80680 Web site : www.birlaericsson.com  S W O T Strength  : Collaboration with Ericsson Weakness : Overdependence on govt sector Opportunity : Custom-designed cables for access market Threat  : Global OFC glut, Idle capacity