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Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
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Telecommunications Info-Tech - Interview Industry & Economy - Business Models ‘Data, video services to see dramatic growth’
The world is going to communicate more with pictures and images and videos than just in words.
Mr Verwaayen, Alcatel Lucent’s Global CEO Thomas K Thomas New Delhi, Nov. 9 An ardent fan of the Arsenal football club, Alcatel Lucent’s Global CEO, Mr Ben Verwaayen, is steering the Franco-American telecom company through what he terms as a transformation process. Business Line caught up with him on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum to know his views on the global trends and its impact on the Indian telecom market. The economic downturn has had some major impact on the telecom sector. When do you think the markets will pick up and what will lead to the revival? We had said in the beginning of the year that this market will be down 8-12 per cent and that’s what has happened. But the overall numbers don’t tell the real story. People make very selective choices. Second, people are making selective investments in what I call the transformation process because the way we communicate is changing. It is moving from a purely voice world to a data world and to video world. In order to differentiate, you need applications and new services. So people are investing in these areas. Look at how young people are communicating. They are leading the revolution. It’s about messages, about social networking. This has a technical effect on the network. The consumption of bandwidth each user is going up tremendously. The share of revenue from data services is growing dramatically for operators and therefore they have to think ‘how do I build my network and capacity’? I think overall we forecast normal growth next year. How is Alcatel Lucent coping up with the downturn? You can’t cut your cost fast enough to cope with the change. I don’t want to adapt to the change, but I want to lead the change. Next generation will use images and pictures and we will use words to support these images. In that world, you need to have a very different capability which will let the functional difference between fixed and mobile disappear. It doesn’t matter whether you are at home or travelling. Whether you look in your palm or on your screen, you would expect the same service. We can build that world with the technology we have and in the pipeline and that’s where we are focusing our R&D on. How significant is the Indian market for Alcatel Lucent? We have taken our position as an investor in the capabilities of India. And we have looked to invest in R&D. Second, we have expanded our capabilities of services. Managed services are a great model for a vibrant market such as India. What I love about India is the great entrepreneurial spirit. It is always bubbling. Alcatel Lucent in India has developed new business model in the form of joint ventures with operators. Is this strategy working for you locally and would you take this model to other countries? India has created some remarkable success stories that have had an impact beyond India. The most remarkable thing is the business models that have been built here and that are now there for others around the world to follow. We are pleased to work very closely with Indian companies because it is an exercise in developing much more than a local model — it’s about developing a model where the industry can go forward. The joint venture model with Reliance and Bharti has worked very well for us and we are taking this model to our other markets even as we speak. We are trying out various models of partnerships — it can be a joint venture, strategic alliance, joint go-to-market, there are different flavours. You will see very different business models coming out of Alcatel Lucent going forward. How do you see the threat from Chinese vendors who seem to be expanding their market share at the cost of European vendors? Moaning about competitors is not what we do. We have our own strategy. I am dealing with it by superior service, being closer to our clients and by being quick to react. Two weeks ago we had a board meeting in New Jersey and we had four Nobel Prize winners on the table. Which other company in the world will have 4 Nobel Prize winners at a normal board meeting? Technology is in our blood stream. This industry wouldn’t have been what it is if we didn’t have Bells Labs. It’s still there, alive and kicking in the right direction. More Stories on : Telecommunications | Interview | Business Models
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