Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa has selected Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) to create Internet protocol (IP) access network – based on Carrier Ethernet technology (CEN) – thereby enabling the operator to deliver faster mobile broadband speeds to its customers. This IP network will allow Bharti Airtel to meet the surging bandwidth requirements of customers while accessing data, video and Internet services on an array of devices, such as smart-phones, tablets and laptops.
Jagbir Singh, Director – Network Services Group, Bharti Airtel said, “Given the exponential growth in the uptake of data in India, we thought it is the right time for us to transition to a scalable IP-based access network for reasons of both cost and performance. With this we will usher in the next level of user experience that brings alive high-bandwidth applications such as high-speed Internet, interactive TV, mobile video blogging and many more. Alcatel Lucent’s IP/MPLS solutions currently operating on our network have been able to manage our data delivery requirements and we are convinced on the scalability aspect of the proposed solution.”
Munish Seth, President and Managing Director, Alcatel-Lucent India said, “We are delighted that Bharti Airtel has chosen Alcatel-Lucent to provide a consistent level of quality in delivering broadband services and voice to all their subscribers. It puts them in a great position to face the challenges of increased bandwidth demand as the millions of their customers discover the power and appeal of the mobile internet for data access, social interaction, gaming and mobile television to name just some of the available options. It is a whole new world and Bharti Airtel is ready for its challenges and we are delighted to partner with Bharti Airtel in this journey”
With ever growing ‘data’ demand for both personal & enterprise broadband services set to soar further, Bharti Airtel’s move to create a CEN (carrier-grade Ethernet)-based IP access network will help the company to offer its customers various services such as video streaming, high speed data , social network-based applications, online gaming, video conferencing and online collaboration. Additionally this network would also be catering to the DSL broadband as well as 2G/3G/4G voice and data traffic making it a true converged network.
The key elements of the Bharti Airtel mobile backhaul network are Alcatel-Lucent’s 7750 Service Router, 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR) and 5620 Service Aware Manager. They are the cornerstones of Alcatel-Lucent’s leading Mobile Backhaul solution, offering a highly scalable, converged (support for 2G, 3G, and 4G/LTE) and reliable end-to-end solution deployed by more than 120 operators globally.
