Turkish mobile operator Avea selects Alcatel-Lucent’s IP/MPLS solution for mobile network transformation

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been selected by Avea, Turkey’s fast growing mobile operator with over nine million subscribers, to start migrating voice, signaling and networking services onto a highly reliable IP/MPLS-based network utilizing Alcatel-Lucent’s solution. The converged network will be able to support voice, broadband data services (GPRS, Edge and 3G), signaling and billing traffic, 2G/3G voice traffic as well as future multimedia services. Alcatel-Lucent’s solution is part of its Mobile Evolution Transport Architecture (META), a comprehensive vision for the evolution of mobile networks from TDM to all-IP.

Alcatel-Lucent will enable Avea to evolve its networks to a converged, next-generation infrastructure. Supporting all services on a single network, Avea will maximize its investment, reduce operational expenditures while accelerating the launch of new advanced and convergent services to the market.

With the Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS solution, Avea is optimizing the use of bandwidth in its IP core network which will dynamically be adapted to bandwidth needs depending on the volume of data and the type of traffic transmitted. Additionally, its intelligent service management capabilities will allow the operator to guarantee reliability and end-to-end quality, and to diversify its offering by establishing differentiated QoS based on the type of client or use of the network. This is a significant advantage for high bandwidth multimedia services which are very demanding in terms of network performance.

“Mobile operators are demanding service assurance capabilities and network performance that enable a predictable subscriber experience for ‘Always-On’ IP/MPLS services,” Olivier Picard, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in Europe and South (global). “Providing such services requires that Avea relies on the reliability, performance and flexibility of a converged network architecture. The unique high availability features in our service routers are ideally geared toward delivering mobile voice services over an IP/MPLS network.”

Alcatel-Lucent is providing Avea with an IP/MPLS core and edge network solution based on its next generation Alcatel-Lucent 7750 Service Router along with the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager.

Avea joins a growing number of forward looking mobile operators around the world that are deploying IP/MPLS in their core transport networks including Vodafone Portugal, Verizon Wireless and China Mobile. Alcatel-Lucent IP solutions have been selected by over 180 service providers in more than 70 countries. During the second quarter of 2007, Alcatel-Lucent reinforced its #2 position in IP/MPLS edge garnering 21% of the market according to Ovum-RHK.