Alcatel Wins Pakistan Contract

Alcatel has signed a US$15 million contract with Mobilink (Pakistan Mobile communications), the leading GSM provider in Pakistan and subsidiary of Orascom, to increase by one million subscribers the capacity of their GSM900 network. Alcatel will enable Mobilink to offer enhanced mobile voice and data services to end users nation-wide.

Alcatel will provide Mobilink with its Evolium solution comprising Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) which can handle large volumes of traffic and deliver very high capacity, with only a limited amount of equipment, enabling the operator to reach higher levels of CAPEX and OPEX efficiency.

"Today's mobile industry is highly dynamic and competitive, that is why we need to extend our networks as of now. We chose Alcatel's solution because we are sure it will allow us to optimize our existing infrastructure, enabling us to handle increasing network traffic caused by the introduction of new services and enlargement of our subscribers' base" declared Al Barry, CEO of Mobilink.

"Alcatel has long-partnered with Orascom in the past, providing new networks and network extensions in Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. We are very proud to continue our long lasting relationship with the group thanks to this new contract in Pakistan with Mobilink, which proves our customers renewed trust in our products and services. Alcatel is fully committed to provide MobiLink with its best-in-class mobile network solutions in order to offer their subscribers unsurpassed quality of service" added Marc Rouanne, Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel's Mobile Communications Group."

Posted to the site on 7th April 2003