News April 8, 20:48 Eastern Time
APR 8, 1999, M2 Communications - Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced that it has signed a US$40.8 million contract with CTI Movil of Argentina to provide wireless Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) equipment for the first phase of the digitalization of its national mobile telephone network. With the selection of CDMA as its digital technology of choice, CTI Movil adds Argentina to a growing list of countries now implementing the technology.
The number of CDMA subscribers worldwide now reaches nearly 20 million in about 40 countries, with Latin America representing the second largest growth potential after Asia.
The project calls for the digitalization of CTI's network in the cities of Cordoba, Rosario, Mendoza, Mar del Plata, Tucuman, Parana and Santa Fe. It also provides for the installation of a Wireless Intelligent Network software platform that will allow CTI to provide to its customers value added services such as Short Message Service and a Wireless Virtual Private Network.
"CDMA technology offers significant benefits such as increased call capacity and call quality that is comparable to landline service, and our Wireless Intelligent Network platform provides a flexible way for service providers to add valuable services for their customers," said Victor Agnellini, Managing Director of Lucent Technologies Argentina. "We are very pleased to, once again, collaborate with CTI in bringing this latest technology to Argentina."
"The introduction of this new cutting-edge technology, available for the first time in this country, confirms our commitment to bring quality service to our customers," said Eduardo Menasce, president of CTI Movil. "This technology also allows us to add numerous new services in our mobile telephony network."
CDMA is a digital wireless technology based on the IS-95 air interface. This technology reduces the static and cross-talk sometimes heard on analog systems, and provides a "soft hand-off" capability that makes call hand-offs between cell sites and mobile switching centers (MSCs) virtually unnoticeable to customers.
With CDMA technology, subscribers are assigned a unique code which allows each user to be distinguished from other users who are transmitting simultaneously over the same frequency band. This allows more efficient use of the licensed spectrum which increases network call capacity for service operators. CDMA technology has inherent encryption qualities that help prevent fraudulent activity and resist potential interference and eavesdropping.
Lucent Technologies Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) is a distributed network architecture developed for the flexible creation and rapid delivery of new enhanced wireless services. WIN allows service providers such as CTI Movil to offer new services to subscribers such as Short Message Service Center, Over-the-Air Activation, Authentication Center, Virtual Private Network (VPN) and Voice Activated Dialing.
Under this contract, Lucent also will provide its GALAXY Power System 4848 and Unigy II batteries. The GALAXY Power System is a front-accessible, 48-Volt, 4800-Amp power system for communications service providers that greatly reduces system size and provides an architecture that is easy to install, maintain and upgrade without disrupting service. Unigy II is a series of Valve-Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries designed for the long back-up needs of telecommunications applications.
Lucent is an industry leader in CDMA technology, with more than 160 CDMA networks in commercial operation or under construction for customers worldwide. Lucent's CDMA networks worldwide handle about 10 million calls per day.
In the Caribbean and Latin America region, Lucent Technologies is building CDMA networks in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, El Salvador, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. In North America, Lucent is the leading provider of CDMA infrastructure equipment for the largest PCS network providers - PrimeCo Personal Communications, Sprint PCS and others -- and for cellular carriers such as GTE, AirTouch and Bell Atlantic Mobile.
Lucent Technologies designed and installed CTI Movil's initial advanced mobile phone system (AMPS) cellular network in 1994. Since then, Lucent and CTI Movil have enjoyed a technological relationship. Since December of 1998, Lucent also has signed contracts worth US$43 million with CTI to expand the AMPS network and provide additional software for services such as caller ID and Call Waiting.
CTI Movil is the largest wireless network operator in Latin America, covering a geographical area with 17 million inhabitants from La Quiaca in the north to Antarctica in the South. The company now provides service to more than 700,000 customers. In four years of operation, the company has invested US$1.4 billion in Argentina. |
