Israel's Bezeq gets into VDSL2 game via Alcatel-Lucent

Bezeq, Israel's incumbent telco, has appointed Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) as its VDSL2 and vectoring equipment provider to deliver higher speed broadband over its existing copper network.

A key concern for the telco was time to market. By implementing VDSL2, Bezeq can deliver up to 100 Mbps over copper to its customers without the need to deploy a separate fiber to the home (FTTH) network.

"Alcatel-Lucent's VDSL2 vectoring solution will give Bezeq a great advantage by enabling us to leverage our existing infrastructure to meet the customer demand for ultra-broadband in the fastest and most economical way," said Yuval Keinan, CTO.  

Bezeq is not alone. According to a recent ABI Research report, fiber-based broadband, whether delivered over an all-FTTP(fiber to the premises) or hybrid copper/fiber FTTN (fiber to the node) network, is set to rise to 19 percent of global wireline broadband by the end of this year.

This deal also bodes well for Alcatel-Lucent as it grows its presence as a key player in the VDSL2 vectoring market.

To date, it has announced 18 customers and is currently conducting over 55 trials. The growth of VDSL2 vectoring deployments and FTTH drove up Alcatel-Lucent's Q3 2013 Fixed Networks division revenues 0.7 percent year-over-year to $735 million.

For more:
- see the release

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