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Telecom Services V&D 100

Top10 Vendors: 5 - Alcatel Lucent: Telling Impact

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Voice&Data Bureau
New Update

Despite the merger between Alcatel and Lucent, one of the largest in the
telecom infrastructure segment, business at Alcatel-Lucent was unruffled in FY
'06-07.

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According to V&D estimates, Alcatel-Lucent's revenue stands at Rs 3,500 crore
for FY '06-07. The significant revenue rise can be attributed to several factors
such as main orders, smooth integration of the two entities, retaining main
clients, retaining crème of the employees and introduction of a new brand that
signified the two organizations flowing into each other.

During fiscal 2006-07, when final integration completed and a brand new look
unveiled, the telecom infrastructure giant bagged some of the major coveted
orders in the Indian telecom industry. The main deals grabbed recently by
Alcatel-Lucent include BSNL's GSM expansion of 3 mn lines, MTNL's 2G and 3G
expansion of 2 mn lines, Reliance Communications' CDMA maintenance, Tata
Teleservices' hosted IP contact center solution, Bharti's transmission
expansions, ICICI Bank's largest single site outsourced contact center, Reserve
Bank of India's 1,000 users enterprise solution, etc. In the transmission
segment, most of the deployments by Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices were by
Alcatel-Lucent.

South Asia is the fifth largest regional unit in Alcatel-Lucent and this is
significant as Asia contributed 15% of Alcatel-Lucent's global revenue in 2006.
Globally, services contributed 16%, enterprises 9%, convergence 12%, wireless
32%, and wireline 31%.                                                                                                                 

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Alcatel-Lucent's global market rankings: #1 in wireline, #3 in wireless, and
#2 in services, are recognized in India too. Thanks to all major orders, Alcatel
is the undisputed leader in many segments in India. Some of the major orders
with mobile operators are in the pipeline that could foster its future as well.

Areas of operation:


Wireless, wireline, transmission, voice solutions, and broadband

Address: 14th Floor, Tower C, DLF
Cyber Greens, DLF City - Phase III,

Gurgaon 122 002 Haryana, India

Phone: +91 124 4159999

Fax: +91 124 4114307

Highlights

  • BSNL's GSM expansion of 3 mn
    lines

  • MTNL's 2G and 3G expansion
    of 2 mn lines

  • Supplied multi-million CDMA
    lines to Reliance Communications

  • ICICI Bank's largest
    outsourced contact center

  • RBI's 1,000 users
    enterprise solution

Apart from main orders, the smooth integration of operations of Alcatel and
Lucent was one of its main achievements. The integration, which did not see a
blood bath, was successful as there was hardly any overlap between the
operations and services provided by both companies in India. Following the
merger, Alcatel-Lucent will continue to grow along with the market and as per
the needs of its customers.

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For the enterprise segment it was a turnaround year, where the company
acquired many new customers to achieve over 100% growth. The field trials of
WiMax 802.16e Rev-e done with the major operators, both public and private, are
examples of its leadership position.

'We will focus on broadband
wireless with WiMax 802.16e'

How has Alcatel-Lucent India performed
during the last fiscal?

Last year has been a significant year for us: two major corporates have
merged together to form the world's largest telecom infrastructure and
solutions company. It had its positive impact in India too. We have not only
retained our leadership position in the CDMA and GSM market with Reliance,
BSNL, and MTNL but also consolidated our position in transmission as well as
enterprise products. For transmission products we have established ourselves
as a market leader similar to the worldwide #3 position we have, by winning
major contracts with Bharti, Tata, Railtel etc.

Ravi Sharma

President, South Asia regional unit

For the enterprise segment it was a turnaround year, where
we acquired many new customers to achieve over 100% growth. The focus on
broadband by the Indian industry and the Government of India has opened an
opportunity for ADSL deployment. We have also made headway in the Metro
Ethernet and IP areas. On the other hand, with the development of WiMax
infrastructure and CPE products by C-DoT Alcatel Research Centre, we are now
fully geared to meet the requirements of service providers. The field trials
of WiMax 802.16e Rev-e done with the major operators, both public and
private, are examples of our leadership position. Overall, our business in
South Asia has witnessed considerable growth compared to the previous year.

What were the main challenges in the Alcatel-Lucent
integration?

The main challenges were to focus on employees, organization, and most
importantly, customers, all at the same time. I feel satisfied that we have
been able to deal with these challenges and come out with success. Today we
have more than 5,000 employees in India located in all major cities.

What will be your focus on the services side?

The services group within the new Alcatel-Lucent is one of the five
business units. The trend of managed services and managed capacity has
emerged in India and we are now fully geared to participate in this market.

What are your expansion plans?

Our expansion plans are in line with the growth plans of our customers,
namely the service providers, enterprises, and verticals. Keeping in mind
the targets that are set by the Government of India for increasing the tele-density
to 500 mn by 2010 and broadband to 50 mn in the same period, we are fully
equipped to meet these challenges of increasing the penetration targets in
the country by supporting the service providers to meet the targets.

You have done well in the wireless space. What are the
unique things you plan to do during 2007-08?

We will further consolidate our leadership position here and focus on
broadband wireless with WiMax 802.16e. We will achieve a similar leadership
position as we have achieved in the wireline and convergence carrier
businesses, as also in enterprise businesses.

What were the main achievements in 2006-07?

We have maintained our leadership position in the wireless space by
bagging orders from BSNL, MTNL, and Reliance. We have achieved growth in
wireline, and achieved leadership position in transmission and other areas
with wins in Bharti, Tata, etc. We have also grown significantly in the
enterprise and verticals businesses with wins in many leading banks like
RBI, ICICI, SMEs, large enterprises, and verticals like the Railways, Indian
defense services, etc.

As Alcatel-Lucent has leadership position globally as well as in South Asia
in most of the businesses that they are in, namely wireline (includes broadband,
IP and optics) wireless (GSM, CDMA, WiMax and microwave transmission)
convergence (IMS, IP-TV, IP/NGN, applications, etc), enterprise and vertical
business and finally the service business, the company has very clear focus in
all these growth areas with dedicated teams both globally as well as locally.

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With focus on R&D efforts in India, the company is ideally poised to meet the
demands of the market and provide innovative solutions to users. The future for
Alcatel-Lucent is bright.

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