Türk Telekom plans network upgrade

Alcatel-Lucent has signed a Euro21.6 million ($33.5 million) contract to deploy an optical network using an intelligent control plane for Türk Telekom AS, Turkey's incumbent fixed-line operator.

Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its optical networking solution in Ankara, Adana, Istanbul and Izmir in a move that will help Türk Telekom boost the efficiency and security of its network and offer new Ethernet-based services to business and residential users.

Intelligent control plane, which is based on automatically switched optical network/generalised multi-protocol label switching technology, is key for efficient networking and traffic protection, according to Alcatel-Lucent.

The control plane will be established over Alcatel-Lucent's 1678 Metro Core Connect (MCC), which will be deployed in Türk Telekom's core transport network. Furthermore, Alcatel-Lucent will supply its Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) systems to extend the current transport infrastructure, based on its synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technologies.

"Driven by IP-based video and multimedia high bandwidth services, a network transformation is occurring in the optical core network, where huge traffic increases have to be supported along with high availability," said Frédéric Rose, president of Alcatel-Lucent's business in Europe, Africa and Asia. "This new contract confirms our ability to assist our customers in their network transformation plans and a commitment to the underlying technology innovation."