Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group’s Reliance Communications Ltd is set to form a joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent to outsource the management of its telecom networks. The agreement is likely to be signed soon, telecommunications industry sources said.
A Reliance Communications official refused confirm or deny the move when asked about it. However, the company has been on the lookout to outsource its network management for sometime and chairman Anil Ambani too had confirmed move toward such a direction at a press conference last year. Alcatel-Lucent’s services business has recently been ranked
at the second spot by research organisation Technology Business Research.
Sources said: "The joint venture will currently be an equal partnership for managed services. However Alcatel Lucent is likely to increase it’s holding in future as it invests more in the network." Alcatel-Lucent officials in India could not be contacted over phone or email on Sunday. No replies came to emails sent.
The joint venture is likely to manage 12 circles in the northern and western Indian networks of Reliance Communications and then spread to rest of the country. It will span across both CDMA and GSM networks of Reliance Communication.
After hiving off its passive infrastructure business of telecom towers this is a second move by Reliance Communications Ltd to outsource a core activity.
{{/usCountry}}After hiving off its passive infrastructure business of telecom towers this is a second move by Reliance Communications Ltd to outsource a core activity.
{{/usCountry}}