KPN Belgium and Alcatel have signed a frame contract for the development of a trial national broadband wireless access network for small and medium sized enterprises. Alcatel will supply its new EVOLIUM™ LMDS solution which provides last-mile high capacity connections to SMEs. It will dramatically increase the number of subscribers that can economically be connected directly to the voice and data network of KPN Belgium.
In contrast with large enterprises and residential users, SMEs have thus far benefited only to a limited extent from the liberalisation of the telecom market. With the development of a broadband wireless access network, KPN Belgium wants to offer all its new telecom services directly to each SME, regardless the location of the enterprise.
For the development of this broadband wireless access network, Alcatel will supply its EVOLIUM™ LMDS equipment as well as installing and commissioning it. This network will operate in the 26 GHz frequency band and includes the central Digital Base Station, the Radio Base Station, the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) Radio and Network Termination. The wireless solution will be implemented on the already installed optical fibre network of KPN Belgium, for which Alcatel also supplied the SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) transmission equipment.
Chris Amssoms, Director Corporate Affairs of KPN Belgium: "With this new technology from Alcatel we will be the first in Belgium to connect businesses to the KPN network in a rapid and cost-effective manner, without being hindered by physical connections or agreements with other operators. The modularity and flexibility offered by this Alcatel solution makes it possible to find the right balance between voice communication and the ever growing importance of data communication such as the Internet. As an operator we wish to play a leading role in the provisioning of this service."
KPN Belgium has put a first base station into operation in the centre of Brussels. Twelve pilot customers of KPN Belgium will evaluate the quality and the reliability of this new form of service over a four month period. Eric Brouwers, Key account director for Alcatel said: "Alcatel has anticipated very early the needs of new carriers as well as to established operators. The integration of our flexible and easy- to-use EVOLIUM™ LMDS Solution in its network will enable KPN Belgium to fully benefit from the best of Internet and to achieve better competitive advantage"
The EVOLIUM™ LMDS Solution of Alcatel is a broadband point-to-multipoint radio system ideal for serving small and large businesses including branch offices, small office/home offices (SoHo) and residential subscribers in dense, urban and suburban locations. It is capable of providing last mile broadband access, voice and Internet services including LAN (Local Area Network) interconnections, PBX applications and videoconfernecing as well as virtual leased-line services, without having to install a 'physical' wire. This is a first for Belgium. Alcatel, a worldwide pioneer and leader in LMDS, plans to deploy 30 LMDS trial networks until end 1999 and its EVOLIUM™ LMDS is already in commercial operation in Poland with Formus Communications.
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