‘World is watching’ as Alcatel supplies Australian broadband roll-out
Alcatel-Lucent has been selected as a strategic supplier for the rollout of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), claimed to be the largest single infrastructure investment in Australian history.
Alcatel-Lucent will provide Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) equipment, aggregation and engineering assistance to the National Broadband Network Company (NBNCo), rolling out a 100 Mbit/s FTTP broadband network to 90 per cent of Australian premises over eight years. NBNCo has committed an initial Aus$70m for the purchase as well as committing to spend up to $1.5bn on equipment during the project’s lifetime. Alcatel-Lucent has deployed 100 FTTH networks worldwide, of which more than 85 have used GPON technology. It also deployed the first Sydney to Melbourne trunk line more than 100 years ago.
“The Australian NBN is one of the most important initiatives in our industry,” said Alcatel’s CEO, Ben Verwaayen. “The world is watching. Infrastructure projects of this scale demand and command leading edge technology and smart solutions. We are committed to delivering both.”
“The NBN offers innovation opportunities for all industries in Australia,” said Alcatel-Lucent Australia’s Managing Director Andrew Butterworth. “Now we need to take advantage of it and explore how broadband networks can deliver life changing services.”
