Hanaro Telecom Reaches Crucial Customer Milestone with Commercial
Deployment of Alcatel's LMDS Solution
Major Asian service provider adds 1000 wireless customers per week
Paris, FRANCE - December 5th, 2000 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today
announced that Hanaro Telecom, a full-service telecommunications carrier operating in Korea,
has signed up more than 10,000 LMDS (local multipoint distribution system) customers, reaching
a critical milestone in the deployment of its broadband wireless access network. This significant
accomplishment follows the signing of a contract between Alcatel and Hanaro last spring for
first phase construction of its LMDS network. Further extensions and shipments will occur in
the coming months to support Hanaro's strong subscriber growth.
Since launching commercial LMDS service in July 2000, Hanaro has aggressively expanded its
wireless footprint and is now offering high-speed Internet service in densely populated areas
throughout Korea including Seoul, Pusan, Jeju and Suburban Seoul. With 10,000 current LMDS
customers, the ready availability of Alcatel equipment has enabled the service provider to
continue to add approximately 1000 new customers per week. Hanaro plans to expand its
LMDS service to include five additional major centers and seven provinces in 2001.
"The Alcatel LMDS solution has helped Hanaro carry out our growth strategy of
using diverse last mile access technology to offer the Korean market cost
effective high-speed Internet," said Mr. Lee Inhaeng, executive vice president, Network
Planning Division, Hanaro Telecom. "Alcatel has provided us with both the products
and services needed for the rapid deployment of an LMDS network, allowing us
to quickly and cost effectively gain market leadership."
"Hanaro is an excellent example of the quick return on investment possible by
deploying Alcatel's LMDS solution," said Jean-David Calvet, executive vice-president,
Fixed Wireless, Alcatel. "Hanaro's LMDS network demonstrates both the technical
superiority and stability of the Alcatel LMDS solution as well as the solid
business case behind broadband wireless access deployment. The fact that the
Alcatel LMDS solution is available now for mass commercial deployment allows
our customers to rapidly turn on their networks and begin rolling out
revenue-generating services, giving them a significant competitive advantage."
Hanaro is a full-service telecommunications carrier operating in Korea and an important Alcatel
customer. In addition to its LMDS solution, Alcatel also supplies Hanaro with core, edge, ADSL
and network management products from its complete portfolio of end-to-end, fully integrated
network solutions and services.
About Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data
networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers
worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 23 billion in 1999, Alcatel operates in
more than 130 countries.
The comprehensive Alcatel LMDS solution, deployed for more than 100 customers
worldwide, is a multiservice broadband wireless network comprised of base station and
customer premises equipment, and network and service management. A base station,
consisting of digital modulation equipment with optional switching capabilities and
point-to-multipoint transmitters and receivers, is the central location that collects all traffic to and
from customers within a given wireless coverage area. The base station is also the linking point
between the customer and the network backbone. Customer premises equipment includes radio
termination (RT) transceivers and network termination (NT) units, which support a full range of
services. The network and service management suite supports complete end-to-end
management of both the wireless and wireline portions of the network, providing a full range of
VPN capabilities, billing and performance information, statistics and maintenance support.
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