ALCATEL…
Chief operating officer Marc Rouanne provided a wide ranging survey of Alcatel’s activities over the year. Alcatel had enjoyed 237% year on year sales growth, he said, retaining a double digit profit for 2005, signing up 40 new customers. The company now has 18 3G customers, he said, as well as 10 customers for WiMAX, and 70 “IMS-ready” deployments. 80 customers have taken delivery of its video and music services.
Orange is field testing HSDPA with Alcatel, (along with other vendors, Mobile Europe notes). Rouanne said all Alcatel’s equipment was capable of achieving 14.4Mbps, a claim that presumably meant Alcatel’s equipment supports 16 QAM modulation as standard, because it’s a fairly meaningless claim in terms of likely user experience.
Priorities for this year included a strong focus on multimedia, including music and TV, where Alcatel has its own approach to DVB-H. (see feature starting page 27).
In terms of product Alcatel announced that it had developed a Twin TRX radio transceiver, scheduled for release in 2006. The new Twin TRX is particularly adapted for densely populated urban areas, with a maximum capacity of 24 TRX per Base Station cabinet.Alcatel’s Base Station Controller (BSC) has also been redesigned for increased capacity and flexibility. The Evolium BSC/MFS Evolution includes BSC and MFS (Packet Control Unit) capabilities in a single rack and integrates IT-based AdvancedTCA technology.
The company also staked a claim for early leadership in mobile WiMax. An interoperability testing campaign is “on-track” to serve the mass market by 2007, to help ensure that Intel-powered
devices will work seamlessly with Alcatel’s WiMAX infrastructure, the vendor claimed.
“Intel and Alcatel have been taking key steps together to accelerate the deployment of mobile WiMAX,” said Scott Richardson, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Service Provider Business Group. “Through
interoperability testing and developing usage models, we hope to drive greater adoption and availability of mobile WiMAX networks.”