Alcatel today announced a global frame agreement with Telenor, the leading Norwegian telecom provider, for the expansion of Telenor`s existing DSL network in Norway, as well as the deployment of new DSL networks in other countries.
Telenor has bought an array of DSL technologies, which will allow it to offer different bandwidth packages to both residential and corporate customers. The agreement also includes a range of triple play services (voice, data, video), with which Telenor`s customers will be able to enjoy video and TV distribution over DSL as well as voice and fast Internet services, all delivered simultaneously.
This agreement follows a number of global agreements between Telenor and Alcatel, in which Alcatel delivered broadband network equipment, network management systems, and point-to-multipoint wireless broadband access. Alcatel`s systems are today deployed in Telenor`s network which spans Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Alcatel also supplies broadband network and access equipment to Telenor`s affiliate in Russia.
"We chose Alcatel as our vendor because of its strong position in the broadband domain," says Ole Henrik Waldenstrom, Executive Vice-President of Telenor Networks. "The agreement is part of Telenor`s strategy to develop the DSL market by distributing leading DSL products and services to our customers in the Nordic region and in Central Europe with limited cost development."
"Telenor`s global agreements with Alcatel in the broadband domain put us in a privileged position in the Nordics market," says Michel Rahier, chief operating officer of Alcatel`s fixed communication activities. "Telenor is a demanding operator in an advanced market, which is the kind of customer that we value for constantly stimulating us to continue working on innovative solutions, helping them and moving up that value chain into the triple play business."
The new global agreement with Telenor covers the complete portfolio of DSL technology including Multi-ADSL and G.shdsl as well as new functionality for triple play services. Multi-ADSL includes the state of the art technologies ADSL2, ADSL2plus, RE-ADSL2 and ADSL provisioned from the same line card on a per port basis. The ADSL2plus technology will offer Telenor`s customers the experience of several multimedia services simultaneously, as they will for instance be able to view a broadcast video on one TV set while watching TV on another one, and at the same time use fast Internet access. The g.SHDSL technology is typically offered to small and medium enterprises, which - as they not only download but also transmit lots of data - need higher upstream bandwidths than offered by traditional ADSL.
A unique advantage of Alcatel`s DSL equipment is that this new functionality, such as TV distribution, can also be implemented in the older equipment versions without hardware modifications, prolonging the life of the already installed equipment.
Alcatel is the undisputed world leader in DSL with a market share of 37% accumulated, and a total of 39.2 million DSL lines sold. Telenor has so far ordered more than 450 000 DSL lines for its Norwegian network from Alcatel.
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Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Telenor is an international provider of high quality telecommunications, data and media communication services. Telenor is one of Norway`s largest companies with revenues in 2003 of approximately NOK 53.1 billion and a workforce of 19 450 domestically and abroad. Telenor is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (TEL) and Nasdaq in New York (TELN).
Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or to their employees. Alcatel leverages its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to bring value to its customers in the framework of a broadband world. With sales of 12.5 billion euro in 2003, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.