3G Contract Signed in East-African Nation of Mozambique
Alcatel-Lucent has signed a contract with Mozambique's mcel for the deployment of a 3G network. The deployment will take place in the dense urban centres and suburban areas of Maputo, Beira and Nampula, Mozambique's first, second and third biggest cities.
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Map of Mozambique
"The deployment of the 3G network in Mozambique will increase capacity for mcel, enabling them to continue to grow in areas where customer demand is particularly high and increasing," said Frederic Rose, President of Alcatel-Lucent's business in Europe, Africa and Asia. "This historic process will enable Mozambique to join other countries in the region in providing its citizens and visitors broadband access supporting the economic growth of the country and is another illustration of how Alcatel-Lucent can help its customers bring broadband access to all and reduce the digital divide in South and East Africa."
The equipment supplied by Alcatel-Lucent - base stations, radio network controllers (RNC), wireless network management system and radio network planning tools - will be deployed in both indoor and outdoor environments and will include Remote Radio Head technology that allows base station components to be distributed in multiple locations, enabling more flexible deployments by reducing real estate and space requirements. Alcatel-Lucent also will provide installation and commissioning services and will expand the existing transmission network to support the increased bandwidth requirements of the 3G service offerings.
According to figures from the Mobile World database, mcel ended last September with just over an estimated 2 million customers - representing a market share of 65%. The country itself shows a population penetration level of just 15.6%.
Posted to the site on 29th January 2008
