Alcatel is preparing to join the top league of mobile telephony player, as it capitalizes on the growth of its mobile telephony business, particularly in rapidly expanding emerging markets. Alcatel's business model is also propelling the company to the top ranks, as is its expanding role in the world of services.
According to Alcatel the mobile industry today is split up into two main sectors: mature markets and emerging ones, each with its own focus. Mature markets are faced with the need to build revenue-generating multimedia services, milking their existing mobile networks and existing subscriber base. Emerging markets, on the other hand, need to build their subscriber base with basic voice services and an initial set of fast, revenue-generating services, while extending network coverage and capacity.
In the last years, Alcatel has achieved continious growth in its GSM/GPRS mobile networks market share. Outperforming the market, with 20% market share growth in 2001/2002, Alcatel has established a dominant position in today's expanding emerging markets, where it is now leader, with a 25% share. Alcatel's business model, implemented through its Evolium radio & core solutions, has significantly contributed to this succes. "Its developed into a highly efficient business model," says Mark Rouanne, COO of Alcatel's Mobile Communications Group.
Evolium, as Telecom.paper yesterday already mentioned, is the Alcatel-Fujitsu joint venture that has established a strong reputation as provider of 3G/UMTS radio access solutions for mobile operators worldwide, based on the world 3GPP/UMTS standard (Third Generation Partnership Project). Now in a major development, Evolium wil provide its 3G/UMTS solutions to NTT DoCoMo.
