Bahamas
: The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC), the leading
wireless telecommunications operator on the island chain, today announced
it has selected Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) to deploy a third-generation
(3G) mobile network based on CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO technology.
Inset
is Heidy Frank, Lucent's regional sales director
for the Caribbean quoted below.
The network will be used
to provide roaming voice and mobile high-speed data services such
as high-quality video-on-demand (VoD), downloading of large files,
and Internet and intranet access at speeds of up to 2.4 Megabits per
second to the growing number of tourists and business people that
visit the Bahamas each year.
The Lucent-supplied CDMA2000
1X and 1xEV-DO network will be deployed on the islands of New Providence,
Grand Bahamas, Bimini, Eleuthera and Exuma covering the main towns,
hotels, resorts and airports with voice and mobile high-speed data
services.
We are very excited by
the opportunity to offer advanced, high-quality mobile voice and high-speed
data services to visitors coming to our beautiful islands carrying
their CDMA phones, PDAs and laptop PC cards, said Antonio Stubbs,
vice president of planning and engineering for BTC.
Tourism is the Bahamas
most important industry. According to the Bahamas Tourism Board, over
four million tourists visit the Bahamas each year, with over 80 percent
of them originating from the United States and Canada. The CDMA2000
1X and 1xEV-DO network will provide these tourists with the ability
to utilize the same services available in their own country.
In addition to Lucents
CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO solution, Lucent also will supply Juniper
Networks M-series Multiservice Edge routing platforms and Riverstone
Networks MPLS-based carrier Ethernet routers. Lucent Worldwide Services
will provide network integration, deployment and management services.
BTCs selection of Lucents
solution to deploy the first 3G network in the Bahamas is quite an
honor, said Javier Falcon, vice president, Lucent Technologies for
the Caribbean, Southern Cone and Central America. Our state-of-the-art
solution will allow BTC to expand their services offerings and deliver
on their commitment to offer the highest quality services to their
subscribers and visitors to the Bahamas.
"We are very proud
to have won this project based on strong customer relationships, product
quality, dedicated support and perseverance, said Heidy Frank, Lucent's
regional sales director for the Caribbean. "We feel that this
is the beginning of a long and very fruitful business relationship
with BTC. We'll continue to work closely with BTC to ensure the successful
completion of the network and provide them the required support as
they roll out new 3G services. Lucents solution provides BTC with
a cost-effective and easy way to manage the network and introduce
new capabilities and services.
Lucents Network Solutions
Group is dedicated to helping wireline, mobile and converged service
providers capture the market opportunities being created by the growing
demand for blended lifestyle services. A global leader in the development
of commercial 3G spread-spectrum solutions, Lucent's Network Solutions
Group has deployed CDMA2000 and W-CDMA/UMTS networks with more than
35 customers on the continents of North and South America, Asia, Europe
and in the Australia/New Zealand region. Lucent has deployed more
than 140,000 spread-spectrum base stations for mobile operators worldwide,
of which 90,000 are already supporting 3G services.
About BTC
The Bahamas Telecommunications
Company Limited (BTC) is the sole service provider for both wireline
and wireless in the islands of the Bahamas, providing services to
both business and residential customers. BTC has been in operation
since 1966. The Government of the Bahamas currently owns 100 percent
of the shares of BTC. BTC currently employs 1,180 persons, has approximately
133,000 wireline subscribers, and 125,000 wireless subscribers of
which approximately 60 percent use the prepaid service. Additional
revenue streams come from Internet service provision, directory advertising
as well as coin/debit card phones.