Paris, June 14, 2006 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it has been selected by India's Tata Group to expand the existing optical multi-service network, thus enhancing the delivery of mobile and broadband services throughout the country. Extending Tata's existing network coverage to additional regions in the country, this USD 20 million project will deliver one of the largest network deployments in India.
Alcatel's solution will enable Tata to further enhance the roll out of CDMA mobile services, as well as to support new broadband services and Ethernet applications throughout the states of Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Additionally, it will provide a highly efficient and reliable platform for the backhaul of traffic over Tata's existing mobile network.
The expanded
optical transport network will meet 70% of the transmission requirements
of Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) - the leading
private telecom operator in India, Videsh Sanchar Nigam
Limited (VSNL) - India's leading international telecommunications
service provider and Tata Teleservices
Maharashtra Limited (TTML), the leading telecom
services
provider in
Maharashtra. TTSL, VSNL and TTML are all part of
the Tata Group.
Alcatel's optical multi-service transport solution will help us significantly enhance the transport network infrastructure in India to offer freedom of service accessibility and further create value to our subscribers," said Mr. Darryl Green, CEO Tata Teleservices Ltd.
"India is a rapidly evolving telecom market with diversified customer requirements," said Romano Valussi, President of Alcatel's optical networking activities. "The capabilities offered by Alcatel's OMSNs and WDM equipment allow Tata to cope with the new service needs of its growing subscriber base."
The award follows
the contracts signed in 2004 for the deployment of the existing
optical transport network. Alcatel's optical networking solution
include its data-aware
Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) systems and 1696 MS
DWDM equipment, both managed by the 1350 management suite. Alcatel will
be also responsible
for the complete project management, engineering,
installation, service activation
and commissioning.
About Alcatel's optical
solutions
The world leader
in optical networking for the fifth year running with a 16%
market share in 2005 (Source: Ovum-RHK), Alcatel is spearheading
the transformation
of optical transport to IP/Ethernet. Alcatel's end-to-end
optical portfolio supports
a broad range of services and applications such as
triple play, Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, Virtual Private Networks and
3G mobile backhauling.
More than 700 customers in over 150 countries have deployed
Alcatel's terrestrial and submarine solutions for fixed and mobile
applications as
well as in the transportation, power utility or research
and education markets.
About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications
solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet
service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and
video applications to their customers or employees.
Alcatel brings its leading position
in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services,
to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband
world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and
58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates
in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel
on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com