New Orange, France Telecom’s mobile business, which also includes the Romanian operator MobilRom, has selected the French group Alcatel as a strategic supplier for the deployment of its third generation UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) mobile networks, in a contract estimated by the two sides to be worth several billion dollars.
An important part of this contract will come to Alcatel’s plant in Timisoara, which is the largest plant in Central and Eastern Europe, and which is already producing converters for the GSM system, standing at tens of million dollars annually.
“The partnership concluded with Orange also includes the creation of some joint teams and programmes for the development of Internet services and value added data services. Alcatel will launch a series of field trials in Europe until the end of this year,” stated Michel Rahier, chairman of Alcatel’s Mobile Communications department.
He added that “as the UMTS supplier for one of the largest mobile phone operators in the world, Alcatel is further positioned as a major player on the third generation mobile communications market”. UMTS allows faster transfer of multimedia packages such as the Internet and mobile telephony.
Emil Visloguzov, a sales director with Alcatel Romania, stated that the costs of UMTS infrastructure are currently being evaluated. “Alcatel’s production unit in Timisoara will surely be involved in this project, as it is involved in the manufacturing of some components for the GSM mobile phone system,” Visloguzov maintained.
Thus, Itineris of France, Mobistar of Belgium, DutchTone of Holland, WIND of Italy and MobilRom of Romania are some of the mobile phone companies that benefit from Alcatel solutions for GSM systems. Alcatel Networks Systems Romania annually produces about 1.5 million converters for ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Line) equipment, solutions that allow rapid and high debit access to the Internet, under the so-called concept of “instant Internet.”
Production of such equipment was launched last year in Romania, with an investment amounting to four million dollars. At present, about 300 employees are involved in this activity. “Timisoara-based production unit has been extended following the installation of eight new production lines,” says Visloguzov.
He explains that the value of the GSM infrastructure in Romania stands at several hundreds of million dollars. “Alcatel has supplied a large part of the components for this infrastructure, such as the radio cells,” added the marketing director of Alcatel Romania.
Michel Rahier said that Evolium Alcatel solutions meet the demands of some mobile communications operators such as Orange, either for the deployment of new networks, or for the optimisation of already existent infrastructures. “These solutions secure an efficient evolution toward UMTS, reducing costs and protecting operators’ investments,” Rahier added.
At present, Alcatel has an UMTS solutions offering, including radio systems (UTRAN), network systems (CORE), services platform and mobile terminals.
“Practically, over the last three years, the relationship between Alcatel and France Telecom-Orange has been very successful outside France, and Romania is one of the most involved countries,” said Visloguzov.
With 120,000 employees and sales worth 23 billion euros in 1999, Alcatel operates in over 130 countries.