Optimus, a telecommunications operator in Portugal, has selected ZTE Corporation’s software define radio (SDR) multi-mode solution, enabling the operator to upgrade its GSM/UMTS (News - Alert) network in Portugal and providing a smooth evolution path to LTE.

Officials with ZTE (News - Alert) said that the company’s SDR network will include SDR RAN, network management system, and operation systems and software (NMS/OSS), enabling Optimus to optimize current 2G/3G services and smoothly upgrade to LTE (News - Alert). The network roll-out will cover 4 regions in central Portugal.

Optimus is the only integrated telecommunications’ Portuguese operator owned by Sonaecom. It is Portugal’s second and third largest provider of fixed-line and mobile services respectively.

"The Portuguese telecom market is highly competitive. In order to continue to develop its mobile network and provide to its customers a high-speed service and superior mobile broadband experience, Optimus is continuously looking for new and more efficient solutions,” José Pinto Correia, executive board member, Optimus, in a statement. 

Correia said that the choice of ZTE uni-RAN solution for central part of Portugal will allow, not only to modernize the existing infra-structure, but also to be ready for future LTE developments, helping the company to stay ahead of competition. 

"There is a growing demand for mobile broadband services, which is only going to continue with the success of data services such as e-mail and social networking,” Zhang Jianguo, general manager of UMTS / LTE, ZTE, said. 

Jianguo said that ZTE’s SDR-based network enables Optimus to meet this growing demand for high-speed services. More importantly, this network is future-proof as it can easily support a LTE network, he added.

This is the first contract win for ZTE’s SDR technology in Western Europe and follows a series of key contract wins in the region. ZTE is conducting LTE trials with more than 10 operators around the globe.

ZTE is a global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. Recently ZTE Corporation had announced an agreement with Westlink, part of the Finish telecommunications group Finnet, to supply a unified multi-service metro bearer solution.

ZTE’s IPTN bearer network solution will enable Westlink to offer traditional voice services and interconnection over Finnet’s all-IP-networks.

 source:tmcnet