It's Alcatel-Lucent out and ZTE in for the OSS/BSS implementation at Singapore's open access FTTH network operator Nucleus Connect

June 22, 2011

2 Min Read
ZTE Dumps AlcaLu From SPIT Deal

SINGAPORE -- CommunicAsia 2011 -- ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763) has landed a small but significant Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) deal in Singapore by becoming the supplier and integrator of the OSS and BSS systems at Nucleus Connect Pte Ltd. , the operating company (OpCo) that is running the active network part of the island state's National Broadband Network (NBN). (See ZTE Wins SPIT Deal in Singapore, BBWF 2010: Running Singapore's NBN and Nucleus Connect Launches.)

The deal is significant not only because ZTE has landed itself an interesting reference customer –- developing the OSS and BSS for an "open" network that is shared by multiple retail service providers is no easy task –- but because the Chinese vendor has replaced rival Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), which was initially awarded the deal in September 2009. (See Singapore Slings for AlcaLu, Huawei.)

ZTE notes its SPIT systems will enable "business operations, billing, fault management, network management and maintenance ... [with] customized configurations which work well with an open access environment."

Nucleus Connect is being a bit coy about the situation. "We deployed Alcatel-Lucent for the first phase of the OSS/BSS build. ZTE is now being deployed for future phases which relate to software enhancements in relation to several areas such as external business interfaces etc.," the company stated in an emailed response to Light Reading's questions.

That AlcaLu has been ousted will come as no surprise to those watching developments in Singapore. Speculation was rife earlier this year that AlcaLu had missed deadlines and was in danger of being thrown off the job. (See AlcaLu's Singapore Sting.)

And it seems ZTE has been engaged in its new role for some time. David Storrie, CEO of Nucleus Connect, noted here on Tuesday during a conference session that the operator's OSS and BSS capabilities are "on track to be live at the end of this year for service provisioning." Those SPIT systems will support all the retail service providers that want to offer their services over the shared fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure built by Nucleus Connect.

Answering conference panel questions about the NBN rollout, Storrie noted that "there have been some teething problems that we're now smoothing out. Until you get to operation you don't see the holes. It's easy in hindsight, but you don't always catch all the holes when you're building the network."

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading

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