China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) has set some lofty goals with its "Broadband China" program: provide broadband services to over 250 million homes in both urban and rural areas by 2015.
A key part of its broadband initiative is Fiber to the Home (FTTH). As of the end of 2011, the telco's network passed 4.5 million homes in China, with 1.3 customers purchasing fiber-based services. By the end of this year, China Telecom said its 'Broadband China' project will connect 35 million new families to its FTTH network.
Supporting these efforts will be a new backbone network built with Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) equipment. Following its recent move to expand its FTTH network, China Telecom is again working with the Franco-American vendor to build a supporting IP-based backbone network.
For this project, the service provider will use Alcatel-Lucent's IP/MPLS 7750 Service Router (SR) portfolio, including the 7750 SR-12 and 7750 SR-7. These platforms will serve as the Broadband Network Gateway for two main purposes: to deliver service and to manage subscribers.
And as the telco's needs scale, these platforms create a foundation for China Telecom to deploy 100 GE technologies.
As seen with many U.S. domestic carriers, China Telecom's fiber-based backbone network will serve various purposes, including as a wireless backhaul platform to support not only the appetite for current 2G and 3G wireless data services, but also higher speed future LTE services.
For more:
- see the release
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