Alcatel-Lucent and India’s RCom Form JV

Alcatel-Lucent has won an outsourcing contract, estimated to be worth between $450m and $500m, with India-based mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCom) to provide managed services for CDMA and GSM networks in northern and western India.

Alcatel-Lucent and RCom will form a joint venture company which will provide network management services to RCom, while also providing services to other operators.

SP Shukla, president at RCom, said: “We are aiming to set up a nationwide GSM and CDMA network by fiscal end, covering 23,000 towns and six lakh villages serving 97% of the Indian population.”