RIYADH, 7 December 2005 — Saudi Telecom Company (STC) announced in a press conference on Monday that it will be partnering with Alcatel, Cisco Systems and Lucent Technologies to create a state-of-the-art broadband network in the Kingdom. The network will enable STC to provide an extra 250,000 DSL lines by mid 2006, covering 75 percent of Saudi Arabia.
“This is a milestone in our company’s development,” said STC President Khalid Al-Mulhem. “By entering into these agreements with our new partners, we will be able to deliver features that will match our customers’ evolving and dynamic lifestyles.”
He added, “Over the past six years STC has achieved phenomenal growth. The company is now officially the largest telecom’s business in both Saudi Arabia and the GCC and is definitely leading the way in the field of communications.”
STC has awarded Alcatel a SR88 million contract for 180,000 ports to be made available using new technologies for digital lines (IP DSLAM) to be executed all over the Kingdom within a period of 12 months.
Alcatel will supply STC with its industry-leading Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) product family that will enable STC to meet growing customer demand for high speed Internet access services, in accordance with state-of-the-art technology for digital lines (IP-DSLAM), as well as high quality broadband applications like IPTV. Since its launch in September 2004, more than 45 customers worldwide have now selected the ISAM technology as the cornerstone for their access network transformation.
“Starting with the usage of the new IP DSLAM technology in the Saudi Telecom network, it will be possible to offer triple play services to our subscribers, thus enhancing broadband services development as part of the company’s effort to present the most modern and high quality of services to its clients all over the Kingdom,” said Al-Mulhem. “We are also totally convinced that Alcatel’s worldwide leadership in deploying broadband services, their capabilities for large-scale deployment, and their adaptability to local market conditions will be of great support to STC in addition to the distinguished and continuous support services provided to STC in this field.”
On behalf of Alcatel, Michel Rahier, president of Alcatel’s fixed communications activities stated, “The Middle East is a key area for providing state-of-art broadband services, with large increases in the number of broadband subscribers and a clear path toward triple play. Within this contract execution, STC recognizes Alcatel as a strategic partner that guarantees the combination of a global competence and a significant broadband experience worldwide.”
Also working with STC on its network and services upgrade, Cisco Systems will be implementing its IP/MPLS (MultiProtocol Label Switching) solution to build the core of STC’s new wireless broadband service, giving consumers an even greater choice of services. The new system will cover the Kingdom by the first quarter of 2006. Lucent Technologies will integrate its “AnyMedia Access System” and WiMAX, which is expected to bring more value-added features to STC’s data services subscribers.