Bouygues Telecom picks Alcatel-Lucent for broadband network transformation (France)
Bouygues Telecom, a French mobile phone and Internet service provider company, has reportedly selected Alcatel-Lucent to transform its broadband network into a single IP-based infrastructure capable of supporting voice services along with video and high-speed internet.
According to reports, the operator is looking to deploy an IP-based model in the core area of the network connecting it with other service providers along with the access part of the network that connects with the subscribers.
As per sources, the new IP network will improve the overall quality of service for voice and data, and will also help the operator to offer services to many devices, such as smartphones and its BBox residential gateway.
Alcatel-Lucent’s profit forecast lowest in nine years (USA)
Alcatel-Lucent, the largest telecommunications equipment supplier in France has reportedly cut its profit forecast due to economic uncertainty in Europe which has caused to hold back orders. As per reports, the shares fell by almost 17 percent resulting in the biggest decline since 2002. Further, the company said that the full-year adjusted operating margin will be about 4 percent, 1 percentage point less than an earlier projection.
According to sources, the company said that it plans to seek additional savings of about US$ 690 million in 2012 as it tries to keep down costs of sales and project implementation. Further, reports suggest that Ben Verwaayen, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent has sold assets including a stake in Thales, the aerospace manufacturer, and the Genesys call-center software unit, which Permira Advisers LLP agreed last month to acquire for $1.5 billion, in an attempt to rebuild the company. Those proceeds will be used for debt repayments and general working capital, as claimed by Chief Financial Officer, Paul Tufano.
As per reports, Alcatel-Lucent’s sales in its biggest market, North America, fell by 0.3 percent while Asia saw a fall of 19 percent. The company reported a negative free cash flow of over $ 600 million. In terms of the network business, the company faces tough competition from Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. in China and Ericsson in Europe.
Alcatel-Lucent signs agreement with Etisalat to provide mobile broadband services (France, UAE)
Paris based global telecommunications corporation, Alcatel-Lucent has reportedly entered into an agreement with mobile operator Etisalat, to develop and deliver mobile broadband services to customers. According to reports, Etisalat will help in the development of Alcatel’s lightRadio technology by participating in joint working groups and easy trials.
As per sources, Nicolas Bouverot, Vice President Middle East, Alcatel-Lucent has said that their work with Etisalat and other major operators on the development of lightRadio will provide them with a greater insight into how operators plan to implement this groundbreaking new technology in their networks. He further said that through its collaboration around lightRadio, Etisalat would help define the commercial introduction of this new product family in the Middle East and in other markets, meeting its own subscribers’ demands for innovative new mobile services while providing operators with a flexible path for business growth into the next decade.
Nasser bin Obood, Acting CEO, Etisalat has reportedly said that this agreement will allow them to shape the future of mobile networks and define how lightRadio can be best implemented to satisfy their customers growing demands. He added that Etisalat is proud to be the only operator in the Middle East and Africa to join this pioneering program.
Big River and Alcatel-Lucent to provide 4G LTE services in Missouri (USA)
Big River Broadband, a Missouri based wireless broadband and cellular service company, is reportedly working with Alcatel Lucent to offer mobile broadband services to the residents of Southeast Missouri. As per reports, the company plans to launch 4G LTE services in seven Missouri counties by the first quarter of 2012, enabling customers to enjoy faster broadband speeds along with new applications, games and other services on their mobile handset.
According to sources, Kevin Keaveny, CTO, Big River Broadband has said that the residents of rural and underserved areas of south-eastern Missouri deserve the same access to mobile broadband applications as those of the bigger, more metropolitan areas. He added that the seven counties in Big River’s service territory suffer from a lack of access to affordable networks. The availability of an expansive and affordable broadband network will dramatically change many aspects of the customers’ lives, including the areas of agriculture, public safety, government, administration, real estate, land values and tourism.
Alcatel-Lucent to sell Genesys for $1.5 billion to Permira (Europe)
Alcatel-Lucent, a global leader in mobile technologies, has sold of its call center services unit –Genesys for $1.5 billion to private equity firm Permira, but will continue to keep its operation business to help meet the needs of its existing customers. As per reports, Alcatel-Lucent expects to finalize the deal by the end of 2011 or early 2012, subject to regulatory approvals in Europe and the U.S.
Alcatel-Lucent had reportedly been considering different options with regard to Genesys since July, which although profitable, was accounting for less than 10% of the company’s annual revenue. As per sources, Brian Ruder, Partner at Permira has said that Genesys is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading providers of customer service software and contact center solutions, and they are excited by the long-term growth potential of this business. He added that with an exceptional brand, differentiated technologies and a blue-chip customer base, Genesys is well-positioned to continue to take advantage of the positive trends in its expanding markets.
China Telecom signs deal with Alcatel Lucent to upgrade 3G network (China, France)
China Telecom has chosen Alcatel-Lucent to expand and upgrade the operator’s 3G network. With this move, China Telecom aims to improve the coverage and speed so as to enhance customer experience as well as ensure a smoother movement to 4G technology. The new network will help China Telecom attract new subscribers and increase its customer base.
According to reports, Wei Leping, Chairman of China Telecom Science & Technology Committee, has said that working with Alcatel-Lucent gives them confidence that they can attract a growing number of subscribers in China, knowing that they can offer all their customers, old and new, the services, speeds and experience they expect, now and in the future.
Rajeev Singh-Molares, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in the Asia-Pacific Region, has reportedly said that Alcatel-Lucent’s long history of CDMA leadership together with their knowledge of the China market and China Telecom’s network allows them to help them meet rising demands for mobile broadband. Their expertise and understanding will allow China Telecom to maintain quality as their customer base grows, as well as prepare for the faster future of 4G LTE mobile broadband, and for the new applications and demands it brings.
Chinese operators select Alcatel-Lucent to enhance mobile network intelligence
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE : ALU) announced today that Chinese operators Jiangsu Mobile, a subsidiary of China Mobile,and Ningxia Telecom, a subsidiary of China Telecom, will deploy the Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Wireless Network Guardian (WNG) in their 3G network and operations centre. By providing advanced wireless data analytics, Alcatel-Lucent will enable the two Chinese service providers to gain in-depth knowledge of how their subscriber devices, applications and networks are performing in real time.
By understanding these dynamics and their effect on wireless broadband data, Alcatel-Lucent gives Jiangsu and Ningxia the ability to detect anomalies before they impact the network or its users, ensuring a new level of control and predictability. The contracts were signed by Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, Alcatel-Lucent’s flagship company in China.
With the growth of data-intensive devices such as smartphones, tablets and dongles, it is crucial for operators to have the capability to manage the end-to-end performance of these devices on their mobile network. The 9900 WNG allows operators to efficiently and optimally accommodate demanding data applications through strategic network expansion.
The Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG will provide Jiangsu Mobile and Ningxia Telecom with valuable intelligence into the usage of IP data on their 3G network, helping them better understand the subscriber experience of mobile data on their networks, diagnose subscriber issues and provide application and network statistics for network dimensioning and network expansion. The Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG gives operators detailed understanding of the complex relationship between application traffic, network performance and subscriber experience. By providing comprehensive visibility into the mobile data traffic, the 9900 WNG assists the operators in many key areas including network operations and planning, device and application qualification and customer care.
The 9900 WNG makes it possible for carriers to monitor and engineer their wireless data network with the level of granularity needed to understand how subscribers, applications and network elements interact and their impact on every area, including the radio access network. As such, it fully aligns with our High Leverage Network vision and network transformation strategy,†said Rajeev Singh-Molares, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in Asia-Pacific.
The Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG provides unique, real-time insight into the bandwidth, signalling and airtime the wireless network. The 9900 WNG provides both per network element and network link and per user, per application context from and end-to-end network perspective. The 9900 WNG can also identify a wide range of security and network issues.
The Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG is a major component of the Alcatel-Lucent Intelligent Traffic Management (ITM) solution recently launched at the Mobile World Congress 2011. The ITM solution allows service providers to automatically deal with anomalies in the network and act to minimize potential impact to the customer.
The long-trusted partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries and governments around the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a leader in mobile, fixed, IP and Optics technologies, and a pioneer in applications and services. Alcatel-Lucent includes Bell Labs, one of the world’s foremost centres of research and innovation in communications technology.
With operations in more than 130 countries and one of the most experienced global services organizations in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach.
The Company achieved revenues of Euro 16 billion in 2010 and is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.
For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.
3G Subscribers in Egypt to Grow Five Fold Till 2012
Egyptian 3G market, which is mainly operated by three operators, possesses huge potential for future growth. Currently, the penetration level is very less with number of 3G subscribers estimated at less than 1 Million at the end of 2009. According to our research report Booming Egypt Telecom Marketâ€, countries 3G market is expanding at a significant rate since 2007 and is projected to grow five fold by the end of 2012. Moreover, operators are making huge investment to upgrade existing technology with an aim to increase their ARPUs.
Our report finds that the main reasons for huge investments in the 3G infrastructure by the three mobile operators in the country, is the saturation in existing 2G networks and declining ARPU in the 2G segment. Operators are trying to convince their customers to move into the new 3G services as a way of freeing up 2G capacity and halting the steady erosion of the ARPUs. Besides, aggressive marketing strategy is being adopted by all the three operators to lure subscribers in Egypt.
According to our research report, various equipment manufacturers are playing an important role in developing Egypt’s 3G network. Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei have been developing Mobinil’s 3G networks while Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola are cooperating with Mobinil to establish its 2G network. Furthermore, Cisco Systems and Ericsson have had their part in the development and enhancement of the company’s network infrastructure.
Apart from 3G, we have found that Egypt’s mobile market has been growing at a fast pace and is projected to experience smart growth in the coming years. Growth in mobile telephony has been due to an increase in the low-income customer segment over the years. Additionally, stiff price competition between the mobile operators in the country and availability of pre-paid and installment payment options will fuel the segment.
Booming Egypt Telecom Market†provides analysis of Egypt’s telecommunication industry with detail analysis of future potential in different industry segments. The report includes mobile market, fixed line, internet, broadband, 3G, and WiMax market analysis and examines telecom infrastructure in Egypt. The report aims to provide the most accurate outlook of the telecom industry in Egypt.
Vivo to shut CDMA network in September (Brazil)
Vivo has announced that it will shut its CDMA network in September.
The company did not reveal how many customers are still using this technology, but noted that they are being warned in advance about the need to purchase a GSM handset.
Vivo’s CDMA coverage in the South, the interior of Sao Paulo and a part of the Midwest was provided by Motorola. The rest of Brazil was divided between Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent.
Alcatel-Lucent to deploy trial TD-LTE network in Shanghai (China)
Alcatel-Lucent has announced that it has been selected by China Mobile to participate in a TD-LTE trial network deployment in China.
Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell will be working on a TD-LTE trial in the city of Shanghai, which is one of seven cities where China Mobile is testing LT-LTE services.
The tests were conducted in both 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz frequency bands for indoor and outdoor deployments and relied on Alcatel-Lucent’s industry-leading LTE expertise to provide an end-to-end integrated solution including LTE base stations (eNodeBs), the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). Alcatel-Lucent’s solution successfully passed interoperability tests with two unnamed terminal suppliers.
