Alcatel-Lucent, Vodacom in ultra-broadband GPON project

Alcatel-Lucent has announced it will build a gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) solution for Vodacom in South Africa. The vendor claimed the solution will enable Vodacom to expand its subscriber base, and provide ‘ultra-broadband’ for bandwidth-hungry activities such as video streaming and online gaming.

According to Alcatel-Lucent, the converged FTTH network will be deployed in all major South African cities, including Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The project involves the instalment of the vendor’s 7360 ISAM (intelligent services access manager) FX appliance for GPON, as well as its Motive customer experience management platform.

“This effort represents a significant and bold move by Vodacom into the fixed network space and allows them to take advantage of new, revenue-generating business models,” Willem Hendrickx, President of Alcatel-Lucent Europe Middle East and Africa said.

“We are excited that our technology, expertise and knowledge are helping take Vodacom to the next level of converged communications.”

Vodacom said with the new solution in place, it expects to reach approximately 15,000 homes and 100,000 businesses within the next three years. “We first began talking with Alcatel-Lucent about expanding Vodacom’s business into the fixed access market five years ago,” Andries Delport, Vodacom Group CTO said.

“This was a significant move for us and required a great deal of consideration. Over time, the Alcatel-Lucent team was able to show that it was the right move for us and that their solution was the best for our needs.”