China Telecom has joined the likes of AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) as the latest service provider to add 100 Gbps horsepower into its network engine.
Built in conjunction with Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) Shanghai Bell unit, which provided the incumbent carrier with its 7750 Service Router and 5620 Service Aware Manager, the new 100 Gbps capabilities will serve as a backbone for China's growing broadband appetite.
A big broadband driver in China will center on Fiber to the X (FTTx). Although current FTTx penetration has only reached 4 percent, an Ovum Group report revealed that there will be "100 million subscribers by 2016, which will then represent more than 50 percent of the world's fiber subscribers."
This latest deal with China Telecom, which follows two other recent deals to provide IMS and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) PON equipment, is also significant for Alcatel-Lucent. Last October, Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen said during television interview with Bloomberg that China and India are key markets of its Asia-Pacific growth.
Gaining these new deployments with China Telecom are key reference points especially as it works to gain a larger foothold in a market that's traditionally been dominated by the duo of Huawei and ZTE.
For more:
- see the release
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