Lucent Wins Moscow CDMA Order

Lucent Technologies and Moscow Cellular Communications (MCC) have announced an agreement to deploy MCC's commercial mobile network, part of the SKYLINK initiative. The new Lucent-supplied IMT-MC network for the 450 MHz spectrum band will initially provide coverage in Moscow and surrounding suburbs and enables MCC to offer high-quality voice and high-speed data services at speeds of up to 153 kilobits per second.

This deployment follows the recent commercial launch of the SKYLINK network in St. Petersburg. Under the new agreement, Lucent will provide advanced Flexent CDMA2000 1X base stations, along with Lucent PacketStar PSAX Multiservice Media Gateways and its next-generation SDH optical products, the Metropolis ADM MultiService Mux together with Metropolis AM, to help MCC more efficiently transport voice and data traffic. The equipment for this network expansion will be delivered by Verysell Telecom of Verysell group, a Lucent business partner.

Lucent Worldwide Services (LWS) will provide installation support, hardware integration, and other services to help accelerate the launch of the commercial network. Together with MCC experts, LWS also will provide frequency planning and network optimisation and maintenance services.

"The SKYLINK service has been well received by customers in Saint Petersburg due to the cost effectiveness and attractiveness of the solutions and we are looking forward to delivering high-quality voice and high-speed data services to the Moscow area," said Victor Ustyuzhanin, general director of MCC. "The deployment of our commercial SKYLINK network in Moscow will bring us a step closer to creating a nationwide IMT-MC-450 network."

"With this advanced network, MCC can satisfy the growing needs of its subscribers, which demand high-quality, multiservice telecommunications," said Dmitry Kamensky, general director of Lucent Technologies in Russia and CIS. "By delivering both voice and high-speed data services via a mobile network, MCC also is able to provide businessmen in Moscow and St. Petersburg with mobile office capabilities - helping them improve productivity and stay connected while away from the office."

Lucent was the first to offer an IMT-MC-450 solution to help NMT-450 mobile network operators migrate their analog networks to advanced digital systems. The IMT-MC-450 solution uses CDMA2000 technology. CDMA2000 is an advanced and efficient wireless technology being introduced worldwide and an international 3G standard established by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)."

Posted to the site on 15th August 2003