Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been selected by Etisalat, the UAE’s leading telecommunications service provider, to speed up the deployment of its nationwide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. In this multi-million Euro deal, Etisalat will utilize Alcatel-Lucent’s award-winning gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology to connect 50,000 households and business customers.

Etisalat will use Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON platform to provide residential and business customers with simultaneous access to several high-definition (HD) TV channels and a Video on Demand (VOD) library – all while enabling them to surf the Internet up to 16 times faster.

“Etisalat is always keen to stay at the forefront of innovation in order to constantly provide our customers with the most attractive and advanced telecoms services. Etisalat’s FTTH roll-out in the UAE - branded eLife - positions Abu Dhabi to become the first capital city in the world with 100% fiber deployment by the end of this year. UAE will be one of the first countries in the world to have a nationwide fiber optics coverage by 2011,” said Essa Al Haddad, Chief Marketing Officer for Etisalat UAE.

?“Through this partnership with Alcatel?Lucent, we will be able to accelerate the deployment of new and advanced service offerings that will revolutionize our customers’ triple play and home entertainment experience. Concretely, Alcatel?Lucent’s GPON platform will support the delivery of high-definition television (HDTV), video on demand, and the fastest Internet download and upload speeds,” he added.

“This contract is a key milestone for Alcatel-Lucent as it further strengthens our prominent position in the global - and UAE - FTTH market,” said Amr El Leithy, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in the Middle East and Africa. “We are fully committed to continue leveraging this leadership to help our customers transform their networks cost-effectively - catering to the surge of end-users’ bandwidth requirements, closely linked to today’s converged multimedia trend,” he added.

Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 7342 Intelligent Services Access Manager Fiber-to-the-User (ISAM FTTU) GPON-based platform, and the related Alcatel-Lucent 5520 Access Management System. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent is supplying a range of optical network terminals (ONTs) to install at the end-users’ premises, and will provide Etisalat with its professional services expertise - including project management, installation, commissioning and training.

Alcatel-Lucent is the worldwide leader in the fixed broadband access market, supporting the largest mass deployments of video, voice and data services. Today, one out of three fixed broadband subscribers around the world is served through an access network provided by Alcatel-Lucent. Alcatel-Lucent is currently involved in over 95 FTTH projects worldwide, over 80 of which are with GPON.

Source:C114