Belgacom France Selects Alcatel for Multi-region Broadband Wireless
Local Loop Deployment
Paris, FRANCE -January 26, 2001 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today
announced that it has been selected by Belgacom France to provide its turnkey Alcatel LMDS
(local multipoint distribution service) broadband wireless access solution to nine regions in
France. As part of the contract, valued at 45 million Euro, Alcatel will also be providing ATM
switching equipment and STM-1 point to point microwave radio links.
The deployment began in November 2000 and the first customer was connected in the
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region before the end of December. The deployment of 24 base stations
will be completed before February 28, 2001, allowing commercial launch of these services
within seven regions in France including the cities of Nantes, Rennes, Rouen, Caen, Le
Havre, Amiens, Reims, Lille, Dunkirk and Calais. Two months later, services will be launched
in the regions of Auvergne and Franche-Comté.
Florent de Kersauson, President of Belgacom France, said : "Belgacom France will use
Alcatel LMDS equipment as a proven and efficient access solution. It will
enable us to provide a wide range of services, including voice services,
high speed Internet, and leased line services to our business and public
service customers. The LMDS technology will enable our customers to
address their specific bandwidth needs in a cost effective manner. After
thoroughly researching the vendor community, we chose Alcatel for its
superior products and extensive support for the deployment and operation of
our network."
Gérard Déga, President of Alcatel France, Africa, Middle-East, India and Central Asia, said:
"Alcatel is pleased to support Belgacom France in providing competitive,
broadband services to many regions of France. Full service
telecommunications providers such as Belgacom France can quickly offer
innovative services to their customers thanks to Alcatel LMDS, the only
optimized voice/data solution available in the market in volume today."
About Alcatel LMDS
Supporting Alcatel's leadership in the broadband access market - including DSL and DLC -
Alcatel is currently the LMDS broadband wireless access market leader with over 6000
base station sectors shipped and more than 100 customers in commercial and trial
deployments. Alcatel's success in LMDS broadband wireless access can be attributed to:
· Reliable, high-performance products available NOW for mass commercial deployment;
· Availability of end-to-end networking solutions including products for Core, Edge,
Transmission, and Network & Service management;
· Global turnkey deployment experience combined with strong local/in-country presence and
deployment support;
· Full range of pre- and post-licence support services, including business case analysis,
network design & engineering, and customised financing assistance when applicable.
The comprehensive Alcatel LMDS solution 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.
About Belgacom
A full service telecommunications provider and wholly owned subsidiary of Belgacom.
belgacom.com
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 116,000 employees and sales of EURO 23 billion in 1999, Alcatel
operates in more than 130 countries.
Contact press@www.alcatel.com |
