By Telecom Lead Team: Telefonica Spain may
choose Alcatel-Lucent to build a nationwide high-speed wireless LTE
network.
Alcatel-Lucent, France’s biggest phone-equipment maker is
the first choice of Telefonica to supply gear for the network based on LTE.
Telefonica plans to unveil details on its network strategy later this month at
the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, according to a report by
Bloomberg.
Telefonica may need to spend about 300 million euros
($394 million) to build the LTE network to cover about 65 percent of the
Spanish market, based on the amount Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) invested
in Germany,” said Robin Bienenstock, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein
in London.
LTE will be important, especially in rural areas” where
download speeds may be limited to about 2 megabits per second. In the absence
of significant cable coverage, Telefonica’s wireline customers are threatened
by faster speeds available through LTE, hence the company has to build LTE to
prevent further revenue declines in these areas,” Bienenstock added.
In September, Telefonica announced that Alcatel
would help set up test LTE networks in Madrid and Barcelona for businesses and
institutions.
During the first phase of trial, Alcatel-Lucent
provided network infrastructure and China’s Huawei Technologies
supplied USB modems.
Alcatel-Lucent held a 30 percent share of the 4G
equipment market at the end of September, according to data compiled by
researcher Dell’Oro Group. It trails Ericsson, whose share is estimated at 44
percent.
Alcatel-Lucent is involved in 70 LTE deployment trials
worldwide, according to its website, including with China Mobile.
Recently,
Alcatel-Lucent clocked 2.1 percent decrease in 2011 revenue at 15.32 billion
euros against 15.65 billion euros in 2010. Its net profit in 2011 was 1.09
billion euros against a net loss of 334 million euros in 2010.
Alcatel-Lucent’s revenue in Q4 2011 declined 13 percent
to 4.15 billion euros from 4.76 billion euros in 2010.
