KUALA LUMPUR, 30 MARCH 2009 – Telekom Malaysia (TM) has awarded a contract worth seven million euros (US$9 million) to French communications giant Alcatel-Lucent to extend its network in Malaysia.
Alcatel-Lucent Malaysia country manager, Patrick Veron, said TM wants to expand its 10 gigabit ethernet network. “The contract will see a network expansion in the central and northern regions of Peninsular Malaysia, two of the country’s most densely populated regions, and will move the country closer to the government’s goal of making Malaysia a broadband nation,” he said.
Veron said Alcatel-Lucent’s solution will allow TM to offer highly reliable virtual leased line (VLL) and virtual private local area network services (VPLS) to its business customers. “This next generation network will also form the platform for aggregating TM’s next-generation (NGN) access gateways and IP DSLAM for future services, including triple play, allowing TM to offer the next wave of advanced services with minimal further investment,” he said.
“Local partner Airstar (M) will provide engineering services and maintenance. The contract follows a three-year deal secured by Alcatel-Lucent and Airstar in 2006,” said Veron.
Incorporated in 1997, Airstar (M), a certified Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) status company, is among the first group of Malaysian companies that obtained the MSC R&D grant scheme (MGS) approved by the Malaysian ministry of science, technology and environment in 2002. Clients include the Malaysian ministry of finance, ministry of defence, and government-linked companies such as TM and Tenaga Nasional.
Making broadband available throughout the country
“The contract strengthens both Airstar’s and Alcatel-Lucent’s positions as key technology partners and suppliers to TM. Alcatel-Lucent’s global leadership in IP solutions ideally combines with our ICT expertise to support this large network transformation project,” said Airstar chief executive officer, Zulkifli Osman.
“The Alcatel-Lucent solution gives Telekom Malaysia the foundation to support the Government’s target of making broadband available across the country, therefore creating a more competitive nation,” said Alcatel-Lucent’s Veron. “By deploying a unified, highly reliable IP infrastructure, Telekom Malaysia can meet the demands of today’s businesses running mission-critical applications that demand high bandwidth.”
