NEW DELHI: Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent is in talks with companies including Reliance Communications to supply broadband equipment, a senior company official said on Wednesday.

Alcatel-Lucent expects the first set of broadband gear orders to come in early 2011, Munish Seth, the newly appointed country head for the company's Indian business, told reporters.

"We are in initial level of talks with most of the people who have won the spectrum," he said. These included India's largest listed conglomerate, Reliance Industries, and Tikona Digital Networks, he said.

Firms including India's top mobile firm, Bharti Airtel, No. 2 Reliance Communications, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices and Idea Cellular spent a combined $23 billion to grab licences in recent auctions of 3G and broadband wireless radio airwaves in the fastest-growing cellular market.

Reliance Industries, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, made a dramatic return to the telecom business with the $1 billion acquisition of Infotel Broadband, the only company to win a nationwide licence for broadband wireless spectrum in the government auction.

Reliance Industries plans to invest about $5 billion in the venture over the next two years.

Alcatel-Lucent has been present in India since 1982 and supplies telecoms gear to India's GSM and CDMA network operators.