"The Reliance CDMA Order is Approximately US $400 Million" Scott K Erickson

Scott K Erickson, Senior VP Mobility Segment (marketing & sales), Lucent technologies is a respected industry expert with more than 25 years in telecommunications. He is credited with accelerating Lucent's growing presence in the wireless arena. In an exclusive interview at ITU Telecom Asia 2002 in Hong Kong, Pravin Prashant of Voice & Data spoke to Scott Erickson on Reliance Infocomm order and the Indian market. Excerpts of the interview: 

What do you feel about the Indian market as you have done pretty well on the private sector but not too well on the government sector? 

The Indian market is a strong market for us. We have strong relationship with Ambani’s and Tata’s and inspite of fierce competition we manage those relationships very well. We have 100 percent CDMA operations for both Tata and Reliance. There has been a modest growth in Shyam network for Rajasthan. For the public sector, ITI is our partner and we try to interface with government companies through
ITI. 

Recently, you have bagged a large order from Reliance Infocomm for CDMA wireless infrastructure. What is the order value? 

We have bagged Reliance Infocomm order for first two phases of deployment. The deployment has already begun and will continue till end of December till most of 2003. The Reliance CDMA order is approximately US $400 million. We have supplied the order in phases and initially supplied 800 BTS (base transmission station) but so far we have shipped 1,600 BTS to Reliance Infocomm till date. 

Reliance Infocomm deployment will be the largest aggressive deployment excluding China Unicom where all the cities are being deployed simultaneously across all the states in the country. If you visit any of the deployment site one will have a hard time to distinguish between Lucent and Reliance employees as everybody is putting their entire effort. We will be able to complete the Reliance network in record time and with highest quality. 

Lucent has also bagged a large order from Tata Teleservices. How big is the order? 

We have bagged Tata Teleservices CDMA network order for four circles. The order is specifically for 3G 1X which will provide high speed data services in addition to voice. 

How do you compare the two wireless technologies–GSM and CDMA? 

Wireless technologies have a great opportunity in India. CDMA technology like 3G 1X provides better utilization of spectrum and provide service at much lower cost base. We will provide 3G data service when the market and applications are there in India. GSM does not have a path to 3G as it is still evolving. 

When will Lucent AnyMedia Line Access Gateway for broadband and voice access platform products will be available for the Indian market?

I don’t see Lucent AnyMedia Line Access Gateway being deployed in India at least next year as Indian market is far from
being mature.