Contents - Connect-World

Industrial Development
Managed telecommunication services and a vibrant
economy
by Thomas White, Senior Vice-President & General Manager, Communications Solutions Group,
Agilent Technologies
Indias growth as a global economic power depends in large part upon its telecommunication
infrastructure and high quality services. Telecom operators need strategies for effective
network and service management, especially for their highly profitable corporate
accounts. Corporations, though, want guaranteed quality of service. To deliver world-class
services, telecom operators need OSS—operational support systems. Systems that collect,
consolidate, and prioritise information, to present an aggregated, real-time, view of service
quality for targeted customer accounts are essential.
Mr Thomas White is senior vice-president and general manager of Agilent Technologies’ Communications
Solutions Group.
White’s experience in electrical engineering began in Hewlett-Packard Company’s London offices, where he
started as a staff engineer in the Test and Measurement sales office. Since then, Mr White has held numerous
managerial positions in field sales and services as well as in the Manufacturing Divisions in the United
Kingdom, was promoted to general manager of the Telecoms Systems Division (TSD) in Scotland and then
general manager of the Computer Peripherals Bristol Division. Mr White was later appointed vice-president
and general manager of the Communications Solutions Group until his appointment as Agilent’s senior vicepresident
and general manager, Communications Solutions. Mr White is also Country General Manager for
Agilent UK Ltd. White was born in Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. Mr White received his bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering from Liverpool University.
Telecommunication networks carry
the lifeblood of modern enterprises.
Indias success in becoming a global
economic power will be determined in
large part by the countrys ability to
provide a robust telecommunication
infrastructure with high quality services.
Until recently, telecommunications in
India were a state-run monopoly characterised
by severely limited deployment
and coverage, serving less than
six per cent of the countrys population.
However, the country has been making
great strides to catch up to neighbours
such as China and Malaysia,
whose economies have benefited from
the opening of their markets and by
permitting foreign investment. In
2004, there has been a flurry of activity
in Indias telecommunication sector
as regulatory and policy changes
encourage domestic and foreign
investment, competition among players
intensifies, and the number of subscribers
has grown by double digit
rates. Liberalised licensing rules have
fuelled a boom, particularly in mobile
communications.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India or TRAI (2004), reports that of
the nearly 4 million subscribers added
in July and August 2004, close to 90
per cent were mobile subscribers.
While these changes are exciting and
crucial to the countrys development,
they bring with them the inevitable
headaches that beset telecom operators:
increasingly complex operating
environments, difficult technology
decisions, and relentless competition
that spawns price wars and customer
churn.
Telecom operators, if they are to
remain viable, must quickly find and
nourish a profitable customer base
while providing support for a national
economy on the rise.
Profitable customers are business customersand
business customers
demand high quality services. That
means, in addition to resolving capital
funding and deployment issues, tele-
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