Alcatel-Lucent to enable China Telecom to offer multimedia

Alcatel-Lucent will deliver multimedia services to Chinese fixed and mobile operator, China Telecom's subscribers in Shanghai, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Xinjiang and Sichuan provinces.

China Telecom is the world's largest wireline telecommunications and broadband services provider and the world's largest CDMA mobile operator.

The deal with Lucent-Alcatel will enable China Telecom to converge different types of ''media'' – voice, video, and other data services - over a common IP platform.

It is the first commercial deployment of IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) technology for China Telecom, and is being undertaken after extensive trials in Shanghai and Shandong provinces. The project will play a significant role in enhancing China Telecom's its network from its legacy PSTN network to an all-IP infrastructure, operating on the principles of the internet, making it much easier and less costly to operate.

This contract will be executed by Alcatel-Lucent's flagship company in China, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell.

''This project, our first large-scale commercial deployment of IMS, is a critical step in our transformation to a much more flexible, cost effective all-IP network,'' said XU Sui, deputy general manager of network development in China Telecom.  ''The world of communications is moving to more video, more streamed content from the web, more personalized services – we are building a network for this new world.''