Malaysia's Celcom has awarded a contract to Ericsson to expand, modernize and upgrade its GSM network to a new architecture. Covering the northern, eastern and central regions of the Malaysian peninsula, the project will be implemented over 12 months, beginning in early July. Ericsson will provide a comprehensive portfolio of telecommunication equipment and services, including deployment and integration of radio access network equipment, as well as switching capacity and software upgrades.
The contract also includes the Ericsson Mobile Softswitch Solution (MSS) comprising an MSC-server, media gateway, mobile packet backbone network (MPBN) and operations support system (OSS), which will provide Celcom with significant savings through an efficient and flexible layered-architecture design.
The implementation of the Ericsson Mobile Softswitch is a significant first step for Celcom to efficiently evolve towards an all-IP network. By complementing mobile softswitch and IP infrastructure with a standardized service environment, Celcom will be able to offer a wide range of new and differentiating multimedia services to its customers.
Ericsson will also provide its Ericsson Telephony Softswitch solution, which entails the deployment of a new international switching center (ISC) and multi network-operations support system (MN-OSS) to upgrade Celcom's existing switches. This particular solution will provide Celcom with a scalable and flexible platform to cater for the growing volume of international voice and data traffic.
The Mobile World database notes that Celcom has some 7.2 million customers, of which 65,000 are connected to the operator's 3G network. Celcom's market share is just over 37%, making them the number two operator behind Maxis."
Posted to the site on 22nd June 2006
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/17930.php