The Hindu Business Line : Taking the call

ALCATEL India, set up here in 1982, has come a long way. The company feels the Indian telecom industry has entered a mature phase of growth, and it is ready to make a killing in this space.

In a chat, Ravi Sharma, Managing Director of Alcatel India, tells eWorld why the company considers India a key country for its growth.

"We have two facilities in Gurgaon and Chennai employing over 400 engineers. This is in addition to over 1,000 engineers working with leading technology partner organisations. In view of the fact that the Indian market is witnessing significant growth in telecom services we shall be bringing in the latest technologies from Alcatel," he says.

"India is also home to Alcatel's competence centre for Intelligent Networks. Alcatel also has a Network Management team in India engaged in developing Network Management Software. We will continue our focus in the area of Intelligent Networks and will soon deploy the IN platform for some Indian operators. Alcatel is a world leader in Intelligent Networks. We have our Global IN development and support centre in Gurgaon and support IN platforms in over 15 countries from our Gurgaon facility," he says.

Excerpts from the chat:

How do you perceive the Indian market currently in terms of business opportunities?

The overall market outlook for telecom equipment and services is bullish. Thanks to the liberalisation policy and the tele-density targets the Government has set up, the telecom sector represents a huge opportunity for service providers and vendors alike. It is difficult to say which sectors will witness maximum growth, as these are transition times.

However, I feel that both the wireless — GSM and CDMA — and wireline (fixed line) segments will grow differently, from application to application and region to region. Whereas the voice traffic in urban areas will shift towards wireless, data traffic will grow by leaps and bounds and will primarily be carried on wireline. In semi-urban and rural areas, the fixed line telephony will grow much faster than wireless. The reach of the Internet will definitely grow and a lot of broadband deployments are expected.

In space-related technologies, the use of VSATs will grow dramatically. Some more liberalisation in terms of mix and match of networks will really boost this sector. Over the years, with liberalisation in the VSAT sector, the deployment has grown but it is still very small compared to the global scene. The policy to allow the use of any satellite by the operators, irrespective of band and orbital slot, will go a long way in making this sector of global scale.

The next five years are to be watched in the Indian telecom sector. Having reached the threshold point, the Indian telecom sector is poised to grow faster, and faster, every year now.

How do you perceive Alcatel's business in India?

For Alcatel, India is one of the key and strategically important markets. Alcatel has been present here for the last two decades, ever since it first entered India through a manufacturing relationship with ITI Ltd. The company has contributed significantly towards developing the Indian telecommunications sector. Today, Alcatel, along with ITI Ltd, holds more than 50 per cent of the wireline switching market here. This means that every second call that is made through a digital exchange, in the country, is powered by Alcatel technology. Alcatel is the only multinational telecommunications major to have a manufacturing set-up in India.

Besides being a major player in switching, Alcatel also has a 29 per cent market share of the digital microwave market and is also the first supplier of equipment to BSNL. Alcatel has about 80 per cent market share for ATM switches in the carrier networks in India. In a number of networks, Alcatel has implemented voice and data applications with its multiplexers and digital cross connects in carriers as well as non-carrier segments. The installations have been for VSNL, STPI, utilities such as the Railways, corporate networks, bank networks, software companies and call centres. There are about 2,000 nodes deployed in the country.

Alcatel has supplied the submarine fibre-optic link between Singapore and India to the Bharti-SingTel joint venture. It recently did the telecom backbone project for Delhi Metro Rail. We are looking very closely at this segment and want to expand to similar projects not only in railways but also in oil and gas, power, roads and other infrastructure sectors.

Alcatel Space has been one of the major suppliers to ISRO for the space and ground segment equipment, and Europe*Star has established itself as a KU band Satellite operating over India. With Europe*Star, Alcatel has become a major transporter of ILD traffic to and from India.

Your plans for developing Alcatel's business in India?

Our strategy for growth in India is in line with our global strategy that outlines equal focus on all lines of businesses, including wireline carrier, wireless carriers and non-carrier business such as space and transport.

Our market priorities will be fixed broadband, multimedia mobile and solutions for the enterprise segment.

Alcatel shall continue to not only consolidate but also expand its presence in new segments for the wireline market. Currently, Alcatel technology powers half of the country's total wireline network of 40 million lines. We will focus on infrastructure projects and try to replicate our success with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation by establishing ourselves as turnkey system providers. We look forward to various projects in the areas of railways, roads, power, and oil and gas.

Although we have not been very successful in the GSM segment yet, we will focus on this area to be successful this year.

What has been Alcatel's experience in the Asian and, more specially, Indian market?

Globally, Alcatel gets about 20 per cent of its revenue from Asia. We have a major manufacturing facility in China — Alcatel Shanghai Bell. India has been a key country to us.

The fact that more than half of the country's fixed lines are powered by Alcatel technologies is testimony to its strong presence in the country. Over two decades of experience in the Indian market has provided Alcatel with significant insight into the market.

Alcatel is geared to leverage its experience and the advantage of having a manufacturing set-up in India to meet the requirements of the market.

vrishi@thehindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Don't do it all yourself

Teeny-weeny and naughty on the Net

Win 98 `auto login'

Removing worm

Online info on Outlook

Taking the call

India, for prudence

Stop, check, go!

Care to raise the bar?

Keep `em flying

Light in the Valley

Quiz

Make something out of nothing

Cartoon