PARIS -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been selected by Telefónica, one of the world’s leading communications service providers, to upgrade the operator’s Internet protocol (IP) networks, initially in Argentina and the Czech Republic, with one of the industry’s most powerful core network routers, the Alcatel-Lucent 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS).

This agreement makes Telefonica one of the first service providers in the world to deploy the recently announced core router. This comes as Telefonica prepares for the explosive growth in data traffic expected over the next decade with the rapid uptake of smartphones, tablets and bandwidth-hungry services such as video and gaming. Following the deployment Telefonica will have a high-capacity IP network in these markets to support all of its service offerings, including fixed and mobile broadband and IPTV.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)