Chunghwa Telecom places order with Alcatel-Lucent for FTTB network expansion

October 10, 2008 - Taiwanese telco Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) has placed an order with Alcatel-Lucent for the provision of Ethernet/MPLS solutions for its fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) initiative, which will expand the telco's network nation-wide across Taiwan.

Alcatel-Lucent will supply Chunghwa Telecom with its 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS), a scalable Ethernet/MPLS aggregation solution that enables carriers to provide high-bandwidth, high-speed Internet, video and voice services. The expansion will provide the telco with higher network capacity and offer FTTB subscribers download speeds of 10, 50 and 100 Mbps for services including high-speed Internet, IPTV and Virtual Private Networks.

“CHT has been a customer of our Ethernet/MPLS aggregation solutions since 2005 and following a successful trial in August, Alcatel-Lucent has once again been chosen for this network expansion project,” said Larry Chai, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in Taiwan. “We’re committed to work with CHT on its initiative to support Taiwan in its quest to become a fibre-enabled nation.”

The new contract is named as being part of the telco's 'Optical Era Project', which involves an investment of around US$ 1.8bn to construct an island-wide fibre optical network over a five-year period, with the final goal of bringing fibre optic connections to 2.4mn subscribers by 2010.