NEW DELHI -- At an agreement signing ceremony, Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU - news) today announced that it has signed a US$31.1 million/Rs 140 crores contract with Tata Teleservices Ltd, a telecommunications service provider, to build a broadband telephone network in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Under the agreement, Lucent will provide its technical expertise and advanced telecommunications infrastructure equipment. The agreement was signed between S Ramakrishnan, managing director of Tata Teleservices and Vijay K Gupta, president & chief eexecutive officer, Lucent Technologies India Ltd.

"The new network that Lucent is building, will form a high-speed, high-capacity information expressway, unleashing the great potential of broadband to our customers," said S Ramakrishnan, managing director, Tata Teleservices Ltd. "This advanced network will provide our customers with faster connectivity and access to rich media applications such as multi-media and video-streaming tele-education."

In a separate release:

HANOVER, Germany -- Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) has been selected to supply Deutsche Telekom with optical transmission systems for its Telekom Global Net optical backbone network under the terms of a multi-year contract. The terms of the contract are not being disclosed.

Deutsche Telekom is investing in the Telekom Global Net project as part of its strategy of offering a seamless global service to its customers. With Lucent Technologies leading optical systems, this new network will enable Deutsche Telekom to do more than simply implement new broadband Internet services. The goal is to enable multinational companies to make direct use of global products and service packages.

http://www.lucent.com