March 11, 2003 -- Czech Telecom today announced that it is providing international telecommunications services to its business and service provider customers using DWDM optical solutions from Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ). With nearly four million telephone lines in operation, Czech is the largest telecommunications company in the Czech Republic. Through its mobile phone subsidiary Eurotel, it also has a significant representation in the Czech mobile services market.
Czech Telecom and Lucent have constructed an international optical network, with access points in the Slovak Republic, Austria, and Germany. Czech Telecom is using the optical infrastructure technology to offer high-speed connections between locations in the Czech Republic and abroad, and also to provide transit services to several countries.
"By launching this transit network CzechITelecom has become a truly international company, and the first national operator from the accession countries to the European Union to expand into foreign countries," said Pavel U Jirousek, executive vice-president of Wholesale Services, Czech Telecom. "Thanks to high quality network infrastructure, as well as the country's advantageous geographical location and business experience in a liberalized market, Czech Telecom is ideally positioned to act as a telecommunications services hub between Eastern and Western Europe."
Lucent has been supplying Czech Telecom with DWDM systems since October 2002. Czech Telecom is using the WaveStar OLS 1.6-Tbit/sec system, an ultra-high-capacity DWDM system. The system offers up to 160 10-Gbit/sec wavelengths for a total capacity of 1.6 Tbits/sec on one fiber. An open architecture enables it to operate in multi-vendor environments. Czech Telecom has also deployed the WaveStar ADM16/1, Lucent's 2.5-Gbit/sec SDH multiplexer, and the Metropolis AM, an Ethernet/SDH metro access multiplexer.
Czech Telecom and Lucent have completed the construction of points of presence in Bratislava, Slovak Republic; Vienna, Austria; and Frankfurt, Germany in January. The second phase will consist of constructing similar points of presence in Budapest and Warsaw.