Alcatel-Lucent in Talks With Indian Operators to Manage Networks

Alcatel-Lucent is in talks with a few telecoms operators in India to install and supply GSM equipment and manage their networks, reported The Economic Times.

The newspaper quoted Vivek Mohan, president and CEO of Alcatel-Lucent (India), as saying: “Globally, we are very strong in this space. We want to use these capabilities in India too. We have received a lot of intent from both established as well the new players, who were recently awarded licenses.”

Alcatel has been supplying network equipment to Reliance Telecom and meeting 30% of all network requirements of BSNL and MTNL, as a partner of ITI. Both BSNL and MTNL have been asking the government to remove ITI from the loop because of the delays it is causing in supplying the equipment. This would mean increase in the percentage of Alcatel’s contracts.

Alcatel is also trying to win BSNL-MTNL’s $1 billion-worth contract to lay submarine cables to Singapore and west Asia. The Economic Times quoted Mr Mohan as saying: “Alcatel-Lucent is the global leader in the submarine cable space by a long margin. We have bagged almost all contracts in this segment here with other Indian players.”