First mobile contract win for Alcatel in Ireland
Alcatel today announced that it has supplied Meteor Mobile Communications, one of the main Irish mobile operators, with its Evolium industry-leading mobile network solution to support the operator’s General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network across Ireland. The contract foresees the complete provision and installation of the core network.
The deployment of the GPRS network will provide Meteor’s users with access to a wide range of enhanced mobile services and high-speed Internet capabilities over Meteor’s existing GSM network. Other advantages include an ‘always on’ connection to Internet and email services, high-speed of data transfer and increased value, as users will only have to pay for what they use. Customers will be able to see these benefits at the beginning of 2004.
Discussing the contract, Liam Hamilton, Technical Director at Meteor Mobile Communications, commented, “This project was implemented in our network in keeping within our initial timeframe and without any disruption to our normal services or traffic thanks to Alcatel’s highly efficient network solution and services. This new network will enable us to deliver enhanced mobile services to our customers.”
Marc Rouanne, Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel’s mobile communications activities added, “This win highlights Alcatel’s ability in competing for new business against incumbent and niche players in the local market. The key reason why Alcatel gained the contract was because of our capability and flexibility to offer a cost-effective solution to Meteor and to fully satisfy their specific requirements. We will continue the successful partnership that already is in place with this operator.”
Meteor already relies on the Alcatel 5070 Signaling Server as well as on the Alcatel 1300 Convergent Network Management Center (CMC) for its mobile number portability (MNP) functionality, enabling mobile subscribers to keep the same telephone number when changing telephone operators.