Alcatel to build Italian backbone and metro platform
15 July 2002 -- Alcatel has a multi-million Euro frame agreement with H3G - which is 88.2%-owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa - to implement its backbone and metro transmission networks in Italy.
Alcatel will supply its DWDM and SDH multi-service transport systems, as well as its new generation of SDH microwave radio systems, on a turn-key basis to support broadband and UMTS-based third-generation mobile services. In November 2000 H3G paid Euro3.253bn for a UMTS license in Italy and it is aiming to be the first Multimedia Mobile Operator in the Italian market.
Spanning about 6,000km from Turin to Palermo, the national backbone will deploy Alcatel's DWDM system - supporting up to 32 channels at up to 10Gbit/s - and SDH Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) systems. OMSNs for metro applications, together with Alcatel's SDH high-capacity urban microwave radio systems, will also be implemented in the metro rings in major Italian cities.
H3G's overall network will be supervised by Alcatel's unified network management solution, able to monitor both SDH fibre and radio as well as DWDM transport infrastructures.