Paris-based equipment manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent says it has been selected to supply a mobile backhaul solution for Hungarian mobile operator Pannon. The cellco, a member of the Telenor Group, has picked Alcatel-Lucent’s Remote Access Network (RAN) mobile backhaul solution to accommodate the growing demand for its W-CDMA/HSPA mobile internet services. In a press release, the French-US company said that consolidating all Pannon’s products and services over a single packet-based network would give the operator more bandwidth and scalability at lower operational costs, whilst also providing faster time to market for new services.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Pannon had 3.475 million mobile customers at the end of September 2008, a market share of 31.37%. Currently its high speed 3G/HSPA network is available in 363 towns and villages across Hungary, and accessible to 65% of the country’s population. In addition, the cellco’s EDGE network is available to 99% of the Hungarian population. To meet rising demand however, Pannon needed to find a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) based, cost optimised and future proof solution, it said.