ASIA : Taiwanese telecommunications provider sparq has deployed a network solution from Nortel for an island-wide data network designed to address increasing business and consumer demand for third generation (3G) voice and data services, as well as to support the aggregation of increasing xDSL traffic.

sparq has implemented this network for Far EasTone (FET), one of five licensed 3G telecom operators in Taiwan. Both sparq and FET are subsidiaries of the Far-Eastern Group.

"This network provides secure, high-quality and truly differentiated services that help sparq enhance the communications experience for subscribers while providing opportunities to grow our data network market," said Shin-Koi Lee, president, sparq. "Nortel's solutions proved to be the best choice for supporting our existing multiservice network bandwidth while also providing outstanding flexibility for expansion to support future services."

The new network supporting Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) uses Nortel's Multiservice Switch (MSS) portfolio to significantly lower ongoing network operational expenses through consolidation of disparate networks across a packet core, as well as reducing wireless backhaul costs across Radio Access Networks (RAN) by converging and aggregating voice and data traffic to reduce leased line requirements. Cost reductions are also realized through aggregating xDSL traffic back into the network. sparq also realizes additional cost reductions by aggregating it's growing xDSL access traffic over the same network back into the packet core.

"MSS is an important part of our wireline and wireless data networks product portfolio," said Jackson Wu, managing director, Nortel Taiwan. "Nortel has been the recognized market leader for years in multiservice switching, and now we are taking that expertise from our wireline products and applying the benefits for wireless customers."

"As 3G services gain in popularity, wireless operators will require network solutions that can cost-effectively accommodate the dramatic growth in data services traffic," Wu said. "The sparq deployment further demonstrates Nortel's strengths in building high-performance multiservice networks with the flexibility to support a variety of 3G services and technologies from the access network across the core."

Nortel was the global market share leader in multiservice switching revenue for 15 consecutive quarters as of year-end 2004, according to Synergy Research Group. With more than 45,000 systems shipped to over 1,500 customer networks, Nortel's Multiservice Switching family has proven field experience in delivering carrier-grade reliability and service flexibility for mission critical enterprise and service provider networks worldwide. Nortel's MSS portfolio is deployed with more than 25 major wireless operators and is delivering proven reliability for wireless packet networking solutions across GSM/GPRS/UMTS, TDMA and CDMA/CDMA2000 technologies.

About sparq

sparq (a.k.a. New Century InfoComm Tech. Co., Ltd., NCIC) is a privately owned telecommunication company funded by the Far Eastern Group, SingTel and a consortium of top local enterprises. sparq will provide end users with a variety of telecommunication services based on its advanced technology, innovated services, and focus on quality. sparq was granted approval of it's fixed-line provider application on March 19, 2000, and a Concession License on February 2001 to provide services of leased telephone integration which include broadband application, enterprise portals, Internet protocol virtual private network (IP-VPN), and web hosting.