Scott K Erickson, senior V-P, mobility segment (marketing and sales), Lucent Technologies, is an industry expert with more than 25 years of experience in telecommunications. He is responsible for accelerating Lucent’s growing presence in the wireless arena. In an exclusive interview at ITU Telecom Asia 2002, in Hong Kong, Erickson spoke to VOICE&DATA on Reliance Infocomm’s order and the Indian market. Excerpts of the interview:

What do you feel about the Indian market? You have done pretty well on the private sector front but not too well in the government sector ...
The Indian market is a strong market for us. We have strong relationship with Reliance and Tata, and in spite of fierce competition we manage to have a healthy relationship. We have 100 percent CDMA operations for both Tata and Reliance. There has been a modest growth in Shyam’s network for Rajasthan. In 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 the first two phases of deployment. The deployment has already begun and will continue till December 2003. The Reliance CDMA order is approximately $400 million. We have supplied the order in phases. Recently, we supplied 800 base-transmission stations (BTS), and have so far shipped around 1,600 BTS to Reliance Infocomm.

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

Lucent has also bagged a big order from Tata Teleservices. How big is the order in terms of value and volume?
We have bagged TTL’s 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. The CDMA technology like 3G 1X provides better utilization of spectrum and also provides service at a much lower cost. 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.

Does the AnyMedia Line Access Gateway platform for broadband and voice access, launched at ITU, target the Indian market?
I don’t see it being deployed in India, at least for one year, as the Indian market has not matured for that.

Pravin Prashant