Alcatel-Lucent will supply its Agile Optical Networking to Thailand telecom operator DTAC to upgrade its existing 3G network and lay the foundation for a 4G LTE network.
The Agile Optical Networking will assist DTAC to assist its vision of delivering ultra-broadband mobile access to more than 40 percent of the Thai population. DTAC will be able to manage the growing data usage among its mobile subscribers.
Panya Vechbanyongratana, senior vice president, Network Operations Division, Total Access Communication or dtac said: “This is the first deployment of 100G GMPLS in Thailand which enables us to offer our expanding roster of customers, and especially smartphone users, the best possible service. Alcatel-Lucent’s technology will also allow us to make a smooth and cost-effective transition to 4G when the time is right.”
DTAC believes that the new optical network will support DTAC’s mobile subscription growth rate of 6 percent per year plus the large number of visitors bringing their own devices into the country.
Its 3G and 4G networks will support the data growth. Ericsson is supplying 4G network.
Also read: Thailand telecoms dtac launches 4G network powered by Ericsson
As part of the deal, Alcatel-Lucent will provide 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) converged Wave Division Multiplexing/Optical Transport Network (WDM/OTN) platform first in Bangkok.
Alcatel-Lucent said the deployment of the 100 Gbps optical network is under way in Bangkok with expansion to other parts of Thailand to continue throughout 2014.
Annual domestic data subscriber growth in Thailand was 17 percent in 2013. Thailand currently has more than 93 million mobile subscribers – approximately 1.3 mobile devices for everyone in its total population of 68.4 million people.
DTAC is also deploying Alcatel-Lucent’s intelligent generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) Control Plane that ensures automated network operation and the highest level of service protection for maximum reliability.
