Alcatel-Lucent’s solution will provide Vodacom with a converged network, enabling the operator to offer ultra-broadband services to its enterprise and mobile customers in South Africa.
The converged network will enable users to access bandwidth-hungry services such as online gaming and video streaming, and it will initially span Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban.
Vodacom expects to reach approximately 150,000 homes and 100,000 businesses over the next three years.
“We first began talking with Alcatel-Lucent about expanding Vodacom’s business into the fixed access market five years ago. This was a significant move for us and required a great deal of consideration,” said Andries Delport, CTO at Vodacom Group.
“Over time, the Alcatel-Lucent team was able to show that it was the right move for us and that their solution was the best for our needs.”
As well as the GPON solution, Vodacom will deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s Motive customer experience platform for high-quality network performance, and the deal also includes professional services, operations support systems (OSS), deployment and managed services.
“This effort represents a significant and bold move by Vodacom into the fixed network space and allows them to take advantage of new, revenue-generating business models,” said Willem Hendrickx, president of Alcatel-Lucent EMEA.
“We are excited that our technology, expertise and knowledge are helping take Vodacom to the next level of converged communications.”
