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You took over as the CTO of Tellabs in December last year. What is your vision for the company?
We have a strong market share and customer base in optical, wireless, as well as IP data. Our aim is to develop a long-term strategy which is five to ten years down the road for innovating around these growth areas. Globally, in all regions of the world, the markets that are growing very rapidly are optical and wireless, and Tellabs wants to be a strong player in these markets.

Dr Vikram Saksena global CTO, Tellabs

Would you say that the Indian service providers are at par with their global counterparts as far as technology is concerned?
Indian operators are as sophisticated or in some cases even more than some of their global counterparts. They are using or looking at the latest technology. The delay in 3G licenses in India is more of a government issue, not something that the operators want. As things happen, they will use the best technology because they have the required intensity and scale. And with this, they will be able to satisfy the demands of the consumers.

What is your strategy to garner maximum share of the Indian market?
As a company, we started in western Europe and Japan, so our entry into the Indian market is relatively new. But if I look at it today, it is definitely one of the top three growth markets. The main trend that we want to capitalize on is the move to 3G networks. I believe that 3G spectrum allocation will happen soon, as a new government has come in and there is much more stability now. The service providers believe that allocation of licenses is imminent, and Tellabs expects that this will bring future change in how the networks are going to be built. As we move to 3G and eventually 4G, the networks become more data-centric and Tellabs excels in solutions which changes from legacy technologies to IP and packet.

Considering the delay in 3G spectrum auction, do you think some Indian operators might think of migrating directly to 4G?
I think it's a major leap to go from 2G to 4G. The infrastructure is different and the amount of investments that you would need would be very large, so I don't see that happening. I think 3G will still happen because the benefits are significant, and it is more of an evolution rather than a revolution. From the practical aspect of augmenting networks and deploying, it's a more logical option, even though India is somewhat behind in it. 4G technologies are still at a very early stage and it is not proven as well. But 3G has been proven in other parts of the world, and will be relatively easier to deploy and manage.

Being a CTO, which are the technologies that excite you today?
What I am most excited about in our industry is the convergence of mobile and Internet. As you know, Internet had a tremendous lead over the last several years, mainly because the innovation happened in the applications domain. Web 3.0, social media, and now Symantic web and more personalized services are creating a set of applications which help consumers and businesses in terms of not just communications but overall productivity, and also bring all the innovation to wireless and mobile customers. That, to me, is a very exciting convergence-net and wireless together, creating a lot of opportunities for operators as well as technology vendors like us.

Gagandeep Kaur
gagandeepk@cybermedia.co.in