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Siemens has bagged an order worth Euro 30 million from Escotel - the leading Cellular operator in UP(West), Haryana and Kerala - for the expansion and upgradation of their GSM network. The contract was signed by Rajan Nanda, Chairman, Escorts Limited and Lothar Pauly, Board Member of Siemens Information & Communication Mobile, Siemens AG, who was in India recently to announce Siemens Plans and Strategy for the Indian market. The contract, spread over three years, includes the installation of new Mobile Switching Centres with more advanced capabilities for enhancing the coverage and capacity to meet the increasing customer base and traffic. Siemens has been selected by Escotel after a formal process of inviting bids and detailed evaluation of proposals submitted by all the major GSM equipment suppliers.

Speaking at the occasion, Rajan Nanda, Chairman, Escorts Limited and Escotel, said, "Siemens technology will not only help us manage our network more effectively, both operationally and financially, but places us on our first step towards 3rd Generation mobile services. Our network will be GPRS ready with a seamless migration path to 3G services allowing us to take advantage of the convergence of telecom and internet and the latest advancements in mobile communications. We will also be able to meet the fast growing capacity requirements, both now and in the future, as we see an exponential growth in mobile voice services and emergence of data services."

As per the contract Siemens will replace the existing Mobile Switching Centres (MSCs) with new upgraded switches in UP(West), Kerala immediately, and Haryana thereafter. The new upgraded MSCs will be capable of High Speed data services like Multi Media Messaging which allows customers to exchange picture and video content using their cellular phones. The switch will support all advanced features like Advanced Call Routing, Carrier Pre-selection, Fax & Data and will also be seamlessly upgradable to 3G Data services.