Since the merger of Alcatel with Lucent in 2006, the company has been expanding its network integration, multi-vendor maintenance, and network optimisation services in India. Vivek Mohan, president, Alcatel-Lucent, India, spoke about the recent contracts bagged by the company and change in the business focus to FE’s Nikita Upadhyay. Excerpts:
Could you please give the broad contours of your partnership with Unitech Wireless?
We are deploying GSM/EDGE networks in the Kerala and Orissa circles for Unitech Wireless. The deal is worth somewhere around $150 million (approx Rs 720 crore). The network deployment deal is for two years, whereas, the managed services deal with Unitech Wireless is for five years. If given an opportunity, we would be please to extend this partnership with them in other circles.
Are you in talks with the other new players entering the market for managing their network and managed services?
Yes. We are in talks with other new players. At the moment, we have contracts worth $500 million each with Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications for a tenure of five years for managed services. We have our hands full and can accommodate one more new player and that would be it.
Which PSU has been more substantial in terms of contract deal amount for 3G?
Among the major contracts that we have received, BSNL and MTNL add substantially to it. As we know, BSNL is a bigger entity than MTNL. The contract deal for BSNL has been more than $400 million, whereas for MTNL, it is Rs 250 crore for an 18-month deployment.
How bullish are you about the managed services market? Why?
The biggest challenge telecom operators are facing is to continuously improve competitiveness by reducing operating expenditure and enhancing network quality to provide superior customer experience. Three years back, we had 10% of our revenues coming from managed services. But, now it contributes to around 40% of our total revenues. We wish to increase it to 60% in the coming years.