Alcatel wins China Mobile's first optical network project

Alcatel (www.alcatel.com) has signed a contract worth $15 million with China Mobile, a GSM operator, to build its first optical transmission backbone network.

The network will cover all the provinces and municipalities in China's northeast region, connecting Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. The 4,700 kilometer-long optical ring network will be the operator's first national transmission backbone and will deliver advanced voice and data communication services in China's rapidly growing telecom market.

Alcatel will deploy its carrier-grade dense wavelength division multiplexing systems, operating up to 32 channels, at stations along the whole ring to connect Alcatel's new generation optical multi-service equipment with integrated synchronous digital hierarchy, asynchronous transfer mode and Internet protocol capability in major regional cities.

"Alcatel's systems provide our customers with a strategic technological base that offers additional network coverage and increased capacity to efficiently deliver new, high-speed services," says Dominique de Boisseson, chairman of Alcatel China.