Rel Comm awards $400-million deal to Alcatel-Lucent
12 Jul 2007
Mumbai: Alcatel-Lucent has received a $400 million (Rs1,600 crore) network expansion contract from Reliance Communications (Rel Comm). The contract will enable the Anil Ambani company to expand its wireless network to over 20,000 towns and 600,000 villages in the country.
With this deal and others on the anvil, Rel Comm will be able to double its network capacity (GSM and CDMA) from 35 million lines currently.
Under the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will upgrade Rel Comm''s CDMA and GSM network with additional mobile switching centres and base stations.
The global major will also provide a comprehensive suite of network integration services, including network optimisation, system support and general project management among others.
Anil Ambani, chairman, Rel Comm, said in a release: "The expansion of our wireless CDMA and GSM network would further enhance our competitive edge in effectively participating in the achievement of our national tele-density targets of 500 million by 2010."