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UPDATE 1-INTERVIEW-Alcatel Lucent sees Asia as growth engine

Published: 18 Nov 2009 03:10:32 PST

* Alcatel says believes it is gaining market share in Asia

* Optimistic about winning 3G contracts in India

* Building several trial LTE networks in Asia

HONG KONG, Nov 18 - Franco-U.S. telecoms equipment seller Alcatel Lucent said on Wednesday it believes it is gaining market share in Asia, as it gears up to try for a major share of India's upcoming 3G build-out.

The company, which posted losses for the last 12 quarters, counted Asia as one of its best performing global markets, on track to beat its overall performance this year, said Sean Dolan, the company's Asia-Pacific president.

"Asia-Pacific has been a growth engine for us. It's clear Asia will outgrow whatever is the global growth rate (for Alcatel Lucent)," Dolan told Reuters on the sidelines of a telecoms event in Hong Kong. "I think we're growing fast and picking up market share, but it's hard to validate that."

He added that Alcatel Lucent had high hopes for the India market, where 3G spectrum is set to be auctioned off next January in one of the world's last major auctions for third-generation wireless technology.

He said wireless operators in India typically awarded their big contracts to about three different vendors, and that the 3G process would probably be similar.

"I want to be one of those three vendors" for each of the operators building a 3G network, he said.

Dolan added that Alcatel Lucent was also working with several partners in Asia to build even more advanced fourth-generation trial networks based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

Two of those are Singapore's SingTel and Japan's NTT DoCoMo. Another is reportedly top Chinese mobile carrier China Mobile, which is building a trial LTE network in Shanghai for next year's World Expo and may be looking to build a commercial network by as early as 2011.

"We're working with multiple operators in China on LTE," Dolan said, declining to be more specific.

Alcatel competes globally with the likes of European rivals Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks, as well as up-and-coming Chinese rivals Huawei and ZTE.