MAY 8, 2009 -- Portugal Telecom and Corning Inc. (search Lightwave for Corning) have announced an agreement to work together to develop, test, and implement advanced GPON technologies for next-generation access (NGA) fiber-optic networks in Portugal.
Portugal Telecom has recently signed an agreement with the Portuguese government and other telecommunications providers to develop a fiber-optic network in the country. The goal is to enable access to next-generation services such as true high-speed Internet, voice, and HDTV based on a new network for up to 1.5 million Portuguese.
"Our main goal is to offer high-quality and cost-competitive services based on innovative and reliable fiber-based solutions," says Zeinal Bava, Portugal Telecom's chief executive officer. "To give our customers -- both residential and corporate -- the best services in the marketplace, we are establishing a number of leading-edge partnerships."
Corning will utilize its new ClearCurve product suite optimized for the European market in the Portugal Telecom solution. The new product suite is enabled by ClearCurve fiber, which Corning says is hundreds of times more bendable than standard singlemode fiber. Featuring Corning's nanoStructures technology, the optical fiber can be bent around very tight corners with virtually no signal loss while maintaining backward compatibility with the installed base of optical fiber. The fiber is designed to enable the construction of rugged drop cables for multidwelling units that can be pulled through wall studs, stapled to wood, and otherwise handled like copper communications cables. It also is constructed to enable hardware and equipment for fiber-optic networks that is smaller and more aesthetically pleasing.
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