Alcatel-Lucent Wins New Zealand Backhaul Contract

Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by Telecom New Zealand to deploy its IP Multi- Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS)-based mobile backhaul solution. Alcatel-Lucent's IP/MPLS solution is being rolled out across Telecom nationwide and supports its strategic transition to all-IP network.

Alcatel-Lucent's solution features pseudowire technology, which adapts various traffic and media types from the W-CDMA base stations into IP/MPLS. Telecom's mobile backhaul network will also leverage the existing IP/MPLS aggregation network already provided by Alcatel-Lucent for residential and business services. This supports Telecom's strategic decision to consolidate services onto a converged network infrastructure.

"Alcatel-Lucent's backhaul solution resolves the issue of cost-effectively transporting the exponential growth of data services we expect from the deployment of the W-CDMA mobile network," said Stuart Sutton, Chief Technology Officer - Technology and Shared Services, Telecom New Zealand. "It will allow us to scale efficiently and rapidly roll out exciting new mobile broadband services, while its high availability features will ensure a reliable mobile broadband service for our customers."

In addition to the Alcatel-Lucent 7705 SAR, TNZ has already deployed a Carrier Ethernet network based on Alcatel-Lucent's 7450 Ethernet Services Switch and an IP/MPLS infrastructure for residential services based on the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 Service Router - all managed end-to-end by the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager.

Posted to the site on 3rd December 2008