Paris, September 28, 2010 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced a multi-million USD contract with Etisalat Lanka, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the United Arab Emirates-based Etisalat, to significantly boost its GSM/EDGE (2.5G) network capacity and coverage and build its first 3G HPSA+ (3.75G) wireless all-IP broadband network.
Alcatel-Lucent will be the sole supplier of an end-to-end solution, including the converged radio access, a new all-IP mobile packet core network capable of supporting 2G, 3G and LTE (including next-generation subscriber data management and end-to-end policy control), a full end-to-end IP transport solution and related professional services. In total, 480 GSM/EDGE (2.5G) sites and 515 3G HPSA+ (3.75G) sites will be deployed as part of the contract. Alcatel-Lucent’s solution also includes a MiTV™ application that will enable Etisalat Lanka to offer advanced mobile broadband and multimedia services such as mobile interactive television and video to over 3 million subscribers and businesses in Sri Lanka.
By transforming the network to IP, Etisalat Lanka is building a network that can intelligently deliver new personalized multimedia services to its business and consumer users. This network will also leverage IP to offer scalable bandwidth to accommodate the anticipated surge in mobile traffic and provide the foundation for the seamless future introduction of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.
“Alcatel-Lucent’s solution and support will help us expand our network and introduce the
innovative wireless services that our subscribers are expecting,” said Mr. Sanath Pilapitiya, CTO of Etisalat Lanka. “Our ongoing relationship with Alcatel-Lucent and their experience in both wireless and IP along with an optimized total cost of ownership were among the key reasons we selected them as our sole supplier”.
Thanks to the company’s in-house IP and wireless capabilities, Alcatel-Lucent’s customers can build on its High Leverage NetworkTM (HLN) architecture which addresses the dual challenge of simultaneously scaling and managing network capacity to meet increasing bandwidth demands while delivering differentiated, revenue-generating services at a lower overall cost.
“Our expertise and our experience in deploying advanced wireless networks both in the region and globally will help Etisalat Lanka to deliver high-speed wireless services that will continue to drive economic development in the country,” said Rajeev Singh-Molares, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in Asia-Pacific.
Alcatel-Lucent is a leading player in the wireless infrastructure market having deployed more than 350 commercial wireless networks worldwide. The company is also a world leader in the design, deployment, management and integration of networks.
About Alcatel-Lucent’s solution for Etisalat Sri Lanka
Alcatel-Lucent will provide a full end-to-end solution including its IP-based converged radio access network (2G/3G/4G RAN), mobile next-generation network (NGN) and transport solution that will enable the operator to expand his GSM/EDGE network and introduce W-CDMA. Alcatel-Lucent will also provide a comprehensive set of professional services – including civil works, network planning, radio design and operation and maintenance optimization.
The solution includes the installation of Alcatel-Lucent’s Base Station Subsystem (BSS) together with Twin TRX that doubles GSM/EDGE base-stations’ capacity to meet the requirements of users in high-density urban environments, and offers a wider coverage range making it well suited for less populated rural environments. It is complemented by
Alcatel-Lucent’s W-CDMA Radio Access Network which is full IP with a distributed Radio Remote Head solution that easily fits into existing base stations, providing a high quality of service. The solution is field proven and has a large track record in high-quality networks. Alcatel-Lucent’s state of the art Packet Microwave technology will provide service differentiation and a high quality of service, ready to carry next-generation mobile traffic.
Alcatel-Lucent will also deploy its 7750 Service Router (SR), 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR), 5620 Service Aware Manager, as well as its 9500 Microwave Packet Radio for mobile backhaul. The 5780 DSC provides the 3GPP policy charging and rules function (PCRF) function that allows mobile operators to create and deliver new, innovative, and personalized services to their subscribers with scale and velocity.The Alcatel-Lucent portfolio of IP/MPLS products delivers a strong foundation on which a family of packet solutions for mobile networks is delivered. These solutions support reliable, scalable, future-proof, cost-efficient and fully-managed transport allowing mobile operators to take full control of their network and quickly enable the delivery of advanced, revenue-generating new services.
Alcatel-Lucent is also upgrading the current Home Location Register (HLR) system to subscriber data management (SDM) which caters to other types of future subscriber management applications such as Mobile Number Portability,
Home Subscriber Server (HSS) for IMS.
Alcatel-Lucent also provides MiTV, an application which offers personalized content, live broadcast TV and made for mobile TV channels that support a broad spectrum of video and multimedia services such as on-demand content, broadcast TV and multi-party video gaming.
About Etisalat Sri Lanka
100% owned subsidiary of Etisalat UAE, who is the world’s 13th largest telco operator with subscribers exceeding 107 million worldwide. Etisalat UAE is on a very sound financial footing with S&P recently upgrading their rating to AA-/A-1+ and Fitch reaffirming their rating to A+ .
With the entry of Etisalat into Sri Lanka and re-branding of the Sri Lankan operation as Etisalat in February 2010, the name Etisalat has become a household name in the Sri Lankan market. The local company, Etisalat Lanka with the support and guidance of the giant parent telco of UAE is making in-roads into the telco market shares in Sri Lanka. Locally one of the most efficient and dynamic operators, Etisalat Lanka will continue to grow in strength whilst contributing to the economic growth of the country too.
This current expansion will take the company’s network coverage to be the best in the country including the North & east. Further the company will also be launch a 3G network with superior technology (HSPA+) and coverage to serve all Sri Lankans.
About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent’s blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.
