Motorola Bags $5m Supply Deal From Essar Commvision

In what could blossom into a $200 million (Rs 720 crore) deal, Motorola Inc.s multimedia group yesterday announced a contract with Essar Commvision Ltd - the Punjab basic licensee for installation of up to 2,000 cable telephony lines. Estimated at some $5 million (Rs 18 crore, which the US electronics-to-telecom-equipment maker refused to confirm), the pilot project will see Motorola taking on the role of a systems integrator.

Dick Day, corporate vice-president and general manager of the $28 billion (over Rs 100,000 crore) US major, said here yesterday that Motorola hoped to bag the equipment contract for the whole Punjab project. Japanese telephone exchange manufacturer Fujitsu and Motorola have been engaged in discussions with Essar Commvision for a equipment supplier contract for some months now.

 

If concluded - as some sources predict it will be - the equipment supply deal could be worth over $200 million spread over the first three-four years of the project, Amitabh Chandra, vice-president of Essar Telecom Ltd (the holding company of Essar Commvision), said. The company expects to roll out 200,000 telephone lines in Punjab in the initial years. The deal is the first cable telephony deal concluded in the country and only the second from the Motorola stable. Initially, the cable telephony lines will pass 3,000 homes with hybrid fibre-coaxial cable (HFC) facilities. A mix of optical fibre and coaxial cables, HFC systems enable high-capacity data transmission (up to 750 mega bytes per second). The companys network architecture envisages a 900 km HFC backbone in the state.

Essar Commvision executives have in the past predicted a high demand for enhanced data services - particularly, high quality cable television - in Punjab. The company plans to ultimately enable a full suite of applications, including Internet access and other multimedia services.