Nortel Networks’ rivals likeCisco Systems (India), Juniper Networks India, Nokia Siemens Network etc stand to gain from its bankruptcy filing.
Ajay Goel, senior vice president (industry business, strategy, operations — India and Saarc), Cisco Systems, said he expects some of Nortel’s customers to approach his company now that the communication solutions provider has filed for business restructuring.
“Some of Nortel’s customers in India will take a relook at their relationship with it and could come to us. There are opportunities for us,” said Goel.
He said deals in the small and medium business, government and telecom services segments could come Cisco’s way. “We will take back the (market) share in these segments from Nortel (in India),” said Goel.
According of IDC, Cisco, with an annual business of over $1 billion, is the market leader in the data network space with over 70% share. The rest is shared between Juniper, Nokia Siemens and others. Nortel, which began operations in India in 1991, has clients across many industry sectors including telecom, financial services, transportation, IT, healthcare, hospitality, education and government. Among its major clients are Bharti Airtel, Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), Chhattisgarh state government and Tata Telecommunications.
Meanwhile, Nortel Networks said whatever is happening in the US won’t impact the company’s Indian operations significantly.
To an email query on whether there were indications that customers were exiting due to instability in its global operations, Nortel Asia spokesperson Matthew Wray wrote, “Throughout this process, as always, our commitment to our customers and to the future of Nortel remains at the forefront of all our decisions. We intend to use all the resources at our disposal to serve our customers and ensure stable long-term support for their businesses. We believe that the restructuring of our business will allow Nortel to emerge a more focused, financially sound and competitive company.”
There have been speculations that Nortel’s outsourcing to Indian companies may be hit and its partners may be left in the lurch. To this, Wray wrote, “We are working together with our customers, partners and suppliers as we move through this process. Our affiliates across Asia, including India, are not subject to the proceedings announced in US, Canada and Europe and are expected to continue to operate as normal.” Among Nortel’s 10 partners in India are Wipro Infotech, IBM Global Services and HCL Comnet.
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