Alcatel-Lucent praises business prospects in China

Rajeev Singh-Molares, executive vice president of communications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent, said on Tuesday that the company will deepen its involvement in China's communications infrastructure sector as the market presents huge potential.

"Doing business in China is exciting and alluring," Singh-Molares said in an interview with Xinhua at the ongoing annual conference of Boao Forum for Asia, held in southern China's Hainan province.

The company expects to continue playing a critical role in China's communications infrastructure development, as the country plans to invest 1.6 trillion yuan (254 billion U.S. dollars) in broadband network construction by 2015, he said.

"For Alcatel-Lucent, providing the network infrastructure that glues China's fast growing mobile user base together with increasingly ubiquitous cloud services is an exciting business opportunity right now," said Singh-Molares, also vice chairman of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell.

He is quite certain about the company's business prospects in China, saying that the country is on the right path for positive economic growth.

"What I have learned from the roundtable discussions with around 30 CEOs from across the globe, is that most people believe that China's investment environment is actually stable and improving," Singh-Molares said.

He said the growth of the company's joint venture in China has mirrored that of China's communications industry over the past 30 years. "There are challenges, but it's the nature of doing business," he added.

Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell is a joint venture founded in 1982. Alcatel-Lucent currently holds a 50-percent stake, while the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, China's state assets watchdog, holds the rest.