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SubTel Forum Issue #37 - Finance & Legal

Page 53

Letter to a friend from Jean Devos

Hawaiian Huawei! My friend,

My Dear Friend

It was a pleasure to meet you once again at PTC 08, and thanks for the Mai Tai at the Tapa bar!

AmongBay” many other impressions I brought back “Botany home, I‘ll keep in mind the

beautiful Tuesday

and recently the overcrowded, brilliant, Ievening published a modestgorgeous, novel, whose title Tata Telecom is Botany Bay.poolside It is theparty! place A inchanging Australiaworld! where I left this party, walked along the beach on sucha Alcatel established a beautiful evening and joined the Orange submarine cable facconfidential reception on the lawn of the Royal tory in 1989 as part of Hawaiian hotel! At least I was able to sit there and its contract for the enjoy some good local food and good Australian Tasman this wine in a lovely atmosphere, ukulele2 link. local In music same bay, where two in the background! I was able to speak my mother language, chatting with the managers of OPT centuries before the Tahiti and from other “French Pacific islands.” French expedition Sorry for my Australian friends who are showing “La Pérouse” made of sometimes some nervosness about this!!?. I would two ships, La Boussole have liked to explained to Graham Lynch who led

Somebody mentioned thein following to me:memory. “Have It Warrior event was still everyone’s youisnoticed that all the traditional suppliers were(UK) for these reasons among others that STC present at the Tyco party?suggestion It seems that they need rejected the Alcatel‘s to come with a each other more than they need new customers! I joint bid, to offer a “European” solution. am glad to see HSN stepping in.”

One of the winning factors has been the As a result HSN, namely Ian Such Douglas the CEO, Port-Botany cable factory. a factory was a wasstrong the only “supplier”from at theOTC roundtable and notand requirement (now Telstra) a single member of the other suppliers’ teams were the Australian Government. in the room. Ian could then develop the traditional Alcatel was the most motivated. Such a language of any new comer: “I am coming because could its influence in the Pacific youfactory need me. It expand is the market who requests my where the three other players were historically presence! “ God bless Huawei! They are coming well established to “save the world”!in this region, which represents the Q&A part of the Submarine cable workshop a large part of their market. They saw this Personally, I would prefer a more sincere that it is only logical for any Government to take factory as a risk for their existing facilities! “ I am coming because this will be good care of the “digital divide” and contemplate the language: SubOptic ‘87 in Versailles came at the right time. for me.” possibility to fund the infrastructure connecting the It is where the Australian teams discovered the remote communities. My Friend, do not misunderstand me here: I and l’Astrolabe, landed in 1788 to discover that French model, a close cooperation between the HSN coming in as a very, very, important My Friend, most fascinating part, was thethe seeAlcatel Captain Cookthewas already around bearing and FT, exactly what they wanted to esevent for our industry and the consequences, if they launching of Huawei Submarine Let’sthe British flag. So Botany Bay isNetworks now for-- me tablish in their to country. succeed, are going be significant! Most likely call it HSN. As you know, HSN is a JV between symbol of a dream which becomes a reality! My friend, thingsindustry are changed since, but the beginning of the supply restructuring! HuaweiTasman and Global Marine. HSN was all over the 2 has been yet another chapter one thing stays true: When you offer something, place, giving papers, speaking at workshops and It will take some time; the barrier to entry is quite in this long Anglo-French competition! The high. stillcan have way tothe go,lines but it ifis you true are theHSN reader seesome between roundtables! It seems that the incumbent suppliers that the market will welcome such a new comer! award to Alcatel came out as a big surprise to or not genuinely motivated and sincere. Then had decided to let HSN occupy the floor and capture many, including inside Alcatel. Everybody was your offer reallyPTC attractive the attention of the audience. Even though present at As you can becomes see my friend, ‘08 wasand oncethis naturally expecting the British to win that at bat- again the Hilton Hawaiian Village, they barely showed opens the route the place to be!to “Botany Bay.” alltle, these sessions so well handled by John Hibbard! and such an expectation was at that time And not only for the Ukulele and the Mai Tai! They are overbooked! They do not need to spend very logical. See you soon. time and effort to gain new customers. They do There were so many difficulties and Aloha, not feel it necessary to explain how good they are; misunderstanding between Australia and they do not need to convince how they differentiate France, the main onecompetitors! being the French Submarcom Consulting themselves from their This presence is not inattitude the Pacific area, the worse the one would expect frombeing them.the Donuclear they bomb experiment in Tahiti! The sad Rainbow realise that people are attending such an event, at a

Jean Devos

Jean Devos

high cost, to hear from them, to learn from them?

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