Alcatel-Lucent Wins Armenian WiMAX Contract

Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by iCON Communications, a provider of IP-based services in Armenia,to design, deploy and maintain a commercial WiMAX 802.16e-2005 (Rev-e) network in the country. Yerevan, the country's capital, will be the first city covered by the services, which should launch by the end of this year.

Alcatel-LucentÃ's WiMAX Rev-e end-to-end solution will enable iCOM Communication to provide high-speed Internet access to its subscribers in a first phase of the project and introduce VoIP and VPN services in a second phase.

"We see a clear demand for quality, competitively-priced broadband access both in enterprise and consumer segments in Armenia. Given our aggressive timeline for launch, we chose Alcatel-LucentÃ's quick-to-deploy wireless WiMAX solution to provide local broadband access in a market underserved by the wireline services providers",said Adam Kablanian, Chief Executive Officer of iCON Communications.

In the framework of the contract Alcatel-Lucent will supply an end-to-end WiMAX Rev-e solution, including base stations, wireless access controllers, and an operations and maintenance center (OMC) as well as customer premises equipment (CPE).The core IP network will be based on the Alcatel-Lucent 7710 Service Router to provide resilient IP/MPLS networking, industry-leading network management, and powerful, service-oriented quality of service (QoS) enabling innovative new mobile IP services.

Alcatel-Lucent will also provide the 9500 Microwave Cross Connect (MXC) and 9400 AWY Microwave systems to support the backhaul requirements for the network, as well as network- planning and engineering, integration optimization and commissioning services.

Posted to the site on 21st October 2008