Paris, August 6, 2003 – Strategic partners Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA), the world leader in carrier-class network infrastructure solutions, and Telecom New Zealand (TNZ) today announced completion of the second stage of their International Voice Expansion Project – designed to lower transmission costs in the interim, and eventually to migrate TNZ from a circuit switched to a packet voice network. This move allows TNZ to expand the capabilities of its network while increasing efficiency and ultimately delivering improved performance to its customers.
As one of the world’s most progressive service providers, TNZ has gone live with Alcatel’s new A2G (AAL2 Gateway) Card, which provides new advanced voice processing capabilities that enable bandwidth-efficient transportation of high quality voice traffic in delay-sensitive applications. As a result of the network upgrade, Telecom New Zealand is able to optimize bandwidth use of the Southern Cross cable, the undersea fiber optic infrastructure connecting New Zealand with the US mainland.
“We started migrating international voice traffic onto the new Alcatel 7670 RSP voice solution in preparation for the increase in voice traffic over the 2002 Christmas holiday season,” said Anthony Briscoe, Telecom’s general manager of Telecom New Zealand International. “The second phase was to test and prove the more complex AAL2 functionality with voice compression, echo cancellation and silence suppression. We chose the Alcatel 7670 Routing Switch Platform because it supports next generation voice networks and is a service aggregator and groomer. The versatility of the solution offers us the opportunity to build new services on an innovative and flexible foundation.”
Recently introduced on the Alcatel 7670 RSP, Alcatel’s flagship multiprotocol, multiservice platform, the A2G Card is an ideal solution for local and long distance wireline and wireless service providers looking to reduce the high cost of leasing bandwidth for voice transport. With the addition of a single high-density Alcatel A2G card, service providers can achieve a complete voice processing solution without consuming additional hardware resources or valuable card slots. Each card’s STM1/OC3 optical interface provides direct connection to the fiber infrastructure and supports 2,000 calls with voice compression, silence suppression and echo cancellation.
Michel Rahier, President of Alcatel’s fixed networking activities said, “Progressive service providers like Telecom New Zealand gain a competitive edge by taking advantage of new advanced voice processing capabilities on the Alcatel 7670 RSP. This network upgrade represents a major milestone for Alcatel and Telecom New Zealand and further highlights the value of our strategic partnership.”
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About Telecom
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand through the Telecom group provides a full range of Internet, data, voice, mobile and fixed line calling services to customers in New Zealand and Australia. Telecom was formed in 1987 out of the telecommunications division of the New Zealand Post Office, a government department. In 1990 Telecom became one of the first telcos in the world to be fully privatized. Since privatization, Telecom's business has changed from simple telephony in New Zealand to complex communications throughout Australia.
About Alcatel
Alcatel provides end-to-end communications solutions, enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver content to any type of user, anywhere in the world. Leveraging its long-term leadership in telecommunications networks equipment as well as its expertise in applications and network services, Alcatel enables its customers to focus on optimizing their service offerings and revenue streams. With sales of Euro 16.5 billion in 2002, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com
About Alcatel's Integration and Services activities
To meet today's increasing demand for customized turnkey network solutions, Alcatel's services range from business and technology consulting, network design - integrating Alcatel and third party equipment including operation support systems - implementation management up to technical network operation and maintenance services. As Operation Support Systems (OSS) have become a key differentiator for Service Providers to compete for customers and to enhance margins, Alcatel offers end-to-end OSS solutions -based on state-of-the art in-house developed products and best in class partners products - and integrates those into carriers' environments.
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Alcatel press contact
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Alcatel Investors Relations
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Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane
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