Israel : ECI Telecom announced that it has celebrated its ongoing collaboration with one of the world's largest cellular operators. Since 2000, ECI has been working closely with this leading European-based mobile provider to upgrade and expand its GSM infrastructure, which is now one of the largest ECI optical networks worldwide, with over 1,000 XDM(R) platforms already installed and running live traffic. The operator has tens of millions of dollars worth of ECI's optical equipment installed in its network.

According to Pioneer Consulting, the wireless backhaul market is worth US$2 billion and estimated to increase significantly with the penetration of 3G services. Addressing the needs of the rapidly growing mobile market, ECI's long-time strategy has been to offer integrated one-stop carrier-grade solutions enabling mobile operators to provide new services with short time-to-market. ECI's solutions provide answers to both immediate needs and future investment protection for next generation mobile networks.

The cellular operator first awarded ECI a contract for the delivery of optical networking solutions in 2000. It selected the XDM to serve as a building block in its next-generation backbone network. Having realized in 2001 the flexibility and future-proof architecture of the XDM family, the operator extended the deployment of the XDM also into its regional and access networks to support its growing subscriber base, as well as to facilitate the supply of a range of 3G services. Since then, the network has steadily grown to become one of the largest and most advanced mobile networks in Western Europe.

To honor their long-standing collaboration, ECI celebrated this commendable milestone with a ceremony in which it presented its partner with the 1,000th XDM for its GSM network.

"ECI's strategy is to focus on the cellular backhaul market. Our solutions have proven to be ideal for cellular deployments, enabling the reduction of overall costs, while allowing our customers to respond quickly to the changing market demands and remain competitive," said Rafi Maor, President and CEO of ECI Telecom. "Our customer is one of the major forces driving the mobile telecommunications revolution in Europe and we feel privileged to be their long-time partner. We look forward to continuing our successful partnership in the future."

About ECI Telecom

ECI provides advanced telecommunications solutions to leading carriers and service providers worldwide. By translating a deep understanding of their needs into innovative, technologically advanced solutions, ECI enables its customers to increase the value of the infrastructure of their networks and reduce operating expenses. ECI's platforms provide carriers and service providers with carrier-grade solutions for easily introducing new revenue-generating services.

ECI provides innovative IP service delivery solutions to the converged telecom networks encompassing Broadband access gateways, Service Edge Routers, Optical transport, NGN VoIP and multimedia applications and services. ECI maintains a global sales, marketing and customer support network, as well as a host of strategic channel relationships worldwide.