Alcatel has drawn up ambitious plans to boost its broadband market in India.
The French telecom major is a leading partner with Indian institutions like the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) involved in research and development (R&D). As part of it plans Alcatel will roll
out the customer premises equipment (CPE) in India by early 2007. It will also undertake pilot projects in Chennai, along with one city each in Japan and Mexico for wi-max.
Valerie Faudon, Alcatel's vice president, marketing programs, told Hindustan Times, "Alcatel has a strategic focus on high growth economies. One of our six research and innovation centres is in India. We will be leveraging talent from these centres while bringing innovation to the customers." India was a strategic market for Alcatel amongst the developing countries, Faudon added.
A recent survey, conducted by Alcatel in regional cities of seven countries—Brazil, Russia, Egypt, Kenya, India, Malaysia, China—has shown a high demand for personal broadband connections. It revealed that Indians on an average spend $4 per month (Rs 180) on browsing at internet cafes and $11 (Rs 500) on mobile phone subscriptions. India currenly has close to 2 million broadband connections, according to the latest TRAI report.
Industry observers point that service providers will have to transform themselves to provide the latest technologies. Ravi V Prasad a leading telecom consultant said, "As in most high growth economies, in India too service providers are realising the urgent need to address three distinct markets—mobile users, internet users and advanced broadband users. They will have to deliver a distinct, compelling differentiated service to customers."
Email rajendran.manoharan@hindustantimes.com