Catering to large enterprises, Verizon’s product portfolio includes security and IT solutions, and professional consulting services. In the few years of its existence in India, the company has carved a niche for itself. Going forward, Verizon plans to focus more on cloud computing and move towards the “everything-as-a-service” concept. In an interview with tele.net, John Samuel, president, India Verizon Business, talks about the company’s future thrust areas, its role in the Indian telecom space and the key challenges. Excerpts…

What has been your experience with the Indian telecom market?

Let me begin with a short introduction of our company. We registered a turnover of $108 billion last year and continue to grow. We operate in 2,700 cities across 159 countries. Our added focus in the Indian telecom market began when we applied for and were awarded our licence in January 2008, and we deployed our own networks, resources and people in the country. When I say networks, it refers to both international and national network capacities. The term people encompasses the functions of customer service, solutions engineering, sales, network engineering, design, etc., which support our customers here. We have deployed a dedicated team for each of our customers across the world. The team anticipates their needs and design solutions accordingly.

In the past two years, our experience has been excellent. We have been providing communication solutions such as the internet and MPLS networks, which can either be a point-to-point network or a point-to-multi-point network; and IPLCs (international private link circuits) for which we have a global data link (which is a point-to-point communication network).

Beyond this, we have launched a suite of security and information technology (IT) solutions and professional consulting services. This helps us meet the requirements of multinational enterprises by supporting them across the communication, IT solutions, security and professional service segments.

How does the company perceive India as a business opportunity?

India is one of the few economies that continue to have a very robust GDP growth in spite of whatever is happening around the world. Foreign direct investments (FDIs) continue to increase in India, with investments coming from large multinational companies. About 96 per cent of Fortune 1000 companies are customers of Verizon, and with this we are in an excellent position to leverage our resources and support our customers here. So, in all, India offers a great business opportunity for Verizon and we continue to leverage and build our strength and invest in this country, which is an engine for our growth in this region.

From the industry point of view, how will the launch of 3G and BWA help the Indian telecom sector?

Here, I would like to discuss the major trends for 2011. Enterprise applications are going mobile. We will see smarter and more portable devices. Today, we are leveraging technology to communicate in spite of being in different locations. Technology advancement on the spectrum side would help realise these trends.

Do the requirements of global enterprise customers clash or coincide with those of Indian customers?

Earlier, Indian multinational companies going overseas were looking to deploy robust communication solutions similar to those deployed by their international counterparts. Today, Indian companies are using cutting-edge technology in order to make their businesses more efficient, faster and smoother. With companies focusing on a global footprint, the requirements of global customers and Indian customers going global are very similar in nature with the objective of driving greater business efficiency.

What trends are we likely to witness in the managed services and security space?

On the managed network and communication sides, we are likely to see three or four main trends in 2011. One is the need for the chief executive officer and chief information officer (CIO) to ride the economic wave. These executives are increasingly looking to manage their IT requirements on a global level, instead of building a peak capacity. Today, any smart CIO would explore various means of deploying a new delivery model in order to meet any IT-related expansion. Moreover, I believe that there is an inclination towards the concept of “everything-as-a-service”.

What are the major concerns that need to be addressed in the Indian telecom market?

Today, we have enough capacity both coming into India and within India. We have come a long way since the time when there were challenges in providing secure connectivity to a remote enterprise. Today, we are at a stage where one can give one’s customers the option to choose from different connectivity mediums. For example, if any of our customers is developing a remote facility, we are even able to offer diverse local access circuits to ensure continued connectivity.

Diversity on the international network is critical. Verizon leads the way with a seven-way mesh across both the Pacific and Atlantic routes. The challenge today is more in terms of security than the robustness and reliability of the network.

What are the company’s investment plans for India as well as globally? Which segments are likely to receive more investments and why?

Last year when people were conserving each dollar, we invested $17 billion in network infrastructure for both wireline and wireless networks across the world. We will continue to invest in these networks and are now going beyond networks to invest in private and public clouds so that people can move towards the “everything-as-a-service” concept. We are making significant investments in security services, security practices, IT solutions and professional consulting services to be able to help businesses. Our investments continue to grow across the world as we leverage our global strengths to bring our customers cutting-edge technology and to drive business efficiencies.

How has the company performed over the past one year?

We have performed extremely well. We continue to support foreign multinationals coming to India and, as I had quoted earlier, 96 per cent of the Fortune 1000 companies are Verizon customers. From an Indian perspective, where Indian multinationals would be restricted to the IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) segments, the top 10 IT companies in India are already Verizon customers. The top 10 BPOs would also be Verizon customers.

We are now looking to address the needs of the banking and manufacturing sectors. We have had an excellent year despite the economic challenges during that time around the world. In India, we have had a great year because we managed to make the shift from providing traditional communication solutions of internet and IPLCs to a very strong practice of IT solutions and consulting services for our customers to help them drive greater business efficiencies.

Of all the markets you now operate in, which region contributes the most to your revenues?

Since we operate in so many countries and are fairly strong in all of them, divulging country-specific details is not something I would be able to comment on. Having said this, however, from a global perspective, there is a lot of optimism for our business in India and I am convinced that our continued investments, our infrastructure and our people will justify this optimism.

What growth trends do you foresee and which segments are likely to do better?

Today, the world is increasingly becoming a globalised market. All organisations are looking at multinational markets and since this is the space Verizon operates in, our core competency is addressing the growing needs of emerging multinationals. Of the major trends we foresee in 2011, the most important one would be that the “I” in CIO will stand for innovation. CIOs would work towards deploying the “everything-as-a-service” concept as well as security. Further, they are also going to look at video applications.

How is Verizon placed internationally vis-à-vis its competitors? Which are some of your closest rivals in the segments you operate in?

We are very strong in the segments that I have already spoken about. Verizon’s main strength is its leadership position in the managed communications solutions space. We are consortium members in important undersea cable networks. One such network is the EIG (Europe India Gateway) of which we are one of the founding members. We are also playing a more dominant role in cloud computing, be it public or private clouds. In fact, we are one of the first companies internationally to build private clouds for the government and large enterprises.

In which areas do you think the company can do better?

Based on our global strengths and leadership, we have identified certain areas for the future and are investing in them. The investments for 2011 have already been made and we continue to focus on trends beyond that.

What are the new market opportunities for Verizon in India?

The increasing need for security services and IT solutions are the new market opportunities for us. We will continue to invest in the everything-as-a-service concept and meet the needs of emerging multinationals, understand their business and keep them satisfied.