Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) says it has won a contract to supply routers to China Telecom as part of the Chinese government’s “Broadband China” initiative. The contract expands Alcatel-Lucent’s involvement in the program; the systems house earlier won a contract to supply fiber to the home (FTTH) equipment (see “Alcatel-Lucent to expand broadband FTTH network for China Telecom”).
The Broadband China program aims to provide high-speed broadband connections to more than 250 million households in urban and rural locations by 2015. By the end of 2012, the government expects the project will see 35 million new families connected via FTTH, 50% of broadband customers experiencing speeds of 4 Mbps and above, and 20 million new households with access to fixed broadband. By 2015 the goal is to connect 800 million Web users, including 200 million living in rural locations.
Under this new award, Alcatel-Lucent will supply its IP/MPLS 7750 Service Router (SR) portfolio, including the 7750 SR-12 and 7750 SR-7. The routers will act as broadband network gateways to deliver high-performance service and subscriber management capabilities. In conjunction with the 7750 SR, the Alcatel-Lucent 7705 Service Aggregation Routers (SAR) (including the 7705 SAR-M, 7705 SAR-8, and 7705 SAR-18) will deliver an optimized IP/MPLS mobile backhaul, leveraging common SR-OS software, to address China Telecom’s 2G, 3G, and future LTE mobile broadband needs.
The deployment of all-IP technology will enable China Telecom to meet rapidly growing demand for high-speed video and data services for householders and consumers across the country, Alcatel-Lucent asserts. The will also preparer China Telecom to deploy 100-Gigabit Ethernet technology for future network upgrades.
The contract was secured through Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, Alcatel-Lucent’s flagship company in China.
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