Telewest Communications plc
of the United Kingdom has awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to Nortel, Brampton, ON, Canada, for the provision of Synchronous Digital Hierarchy transmission equipment. Nortel will supply its TN-16X (2.5 Gbits/sec), TN-4X (622 Mbits/sec), and TN-1X (155 Mbits/sec) add/drop multiplexers with integrated network management to Telewest, which will install the equipment in as many as 30 locations in Scotland and England. The Telewest network will support digital-TV services that the company plans to launch during the fourth quarter of this year. The network will also link existing franchises and enable the company to interconnect its telephony switches to reduce third-party interconnect charges and produce the capacity necessary to sell high-bandwidth data services on demand.