Israel's Partner, which trades under the Orange brand name, has selected Nortel Networks in a frame agreement with an estimated value of US$93 million to supply what is expected to be Israel's first 3G network.
"We are very pleased to announce the selection of Nortel Networks as our vendor to elevate Partner Communications to a new era of 3G mobile services," said Mr. Amikam Cohen, Partner's CEO. "We are convinced that Nortel Networks' experience and track record in wide-band radio technology and packet core networking makes them the best choice to partner with us, bringing to the exciting Israeli cellular market a variety of services which will open new horizons to the Israeli cellular customer." Initial Partner UMTS network deployment will begin by year-end 2003 in the Greater Tel Aviv area, and will be followed by deployments to enable national coverage across Israel.
"We continue to see progress in the rollout of UMTS, and this deployment with Partner is another big step in our continued strategy to make 3G a reality," said Pascal Debon, President, Wireless Networks, Nortel Networks. "Our experience in deploying and tuning large-scale cellular networks and our core IP networking expertise give us an advantage in helping customers like Partner launch their UMTS networks quickly and efficiently."
"Today's announcement is a very important milestone for Nortel Networks, for Partner and for the advanced cellular market in Israel," said Sorin Lupu, Managing Director, Nortel Networks Israel. "The Israeli race for wireless broadband services has begun, and we are very proud to have been chosen as Partner's UMTS vendor. This is a highly-strategic project for Nortel Networks Israel and for Nortel Networks Global, especially considering it represents our first win into the Hutchison operator group."
Posted to the site on 14th November 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/10117.php