China has become the telecoms giant's top market, said Jan Malm, president of Ericsson (China) Co.

The Swedish firm has selected Chengdu Cable as one of its suppliers in the international supply chain and plans to further expand the supplier base in the country's western areas, he said.

"More new ones will be picked for the pipeline,'' said Malm, who has been based in China for more than five years.

Full of curiosity about the vast western provinces and autonomous regions, Malm has travelled to most of the area except the Tibet Autonomous Region, which he hopes to visit soon.

"The western areas are far from my original imagination -- Urumqi (capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) is very modern and clean,'' said Malm.

Before coming to China, all he knew about the country was grey uniforms and Moutai liquor.

China has become the most attractive market not only for Ericsson but for all international telecoms equipment vendors, he said.

China has been an important cushion in losses of equipment vendors sustained from the economic downturn in overseas markets.

The western areas are very mysterious to international companies because of the different cultures and lack of media coverage, Malm said.

But besides the colourful cultures, there are also good educated professionals and high skilled labour there, he said.

The western areas have unique advantages such as the low employee flow rate and preferential policies from the government, he said.

As competition in the telecoms market intensifies, Ericsson and its counterparts have been eyeing western regions as their next revenue pool and supply base.

In the coming five years, Ericsson and its suppliers plan to increase their investment in China from US$2.4 billion to US$5.1 billion.

Ericsson, together with its suppliers, will also boost its employee contingent in the country from 29,000 to 58,000, the company said.

Local governments in the western areas are able to provide good basic infrastructure, well-trained workers, sound investment conditions and convenient transportation and telecommunications, said Malm.

As a telecoms infrastructure constructor, Ericsson will go before companies from other industries as "telecoms are the base of development and go hand in hand with the economy,'' he said.

In Ericsson's moving west strategy, Sichuan is the favourite place with Chengdu Cable picked as the first domestic member in the supply chain.

The first joint venture of Ericsson in western China, Chongqing Ericsson Technology Ltd, was established in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

On July, an open lab jointly established by Ericsson and Sichuan University was established in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

The lab is not only another foothold for Ericsson in the western areas but a place to help attract talents in the region.

(China Daily 09/05/2001)