MTN Nigeria Goes IP With AlcaLu

PARIS -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced it has been selected by MTN Nigeria, the country's leading telecom operator with over 30 million subscribers, for the transformation of its DSL access and aggregation network. Alcatel-Lucent's solution will enable MTN Nigeria to cost-effectively transform its TDM-based transport networks into an all-IP powered network.

By transitioning from legacy TDM to next-generation IP, MTN will realize a simplified, lower cost, reliable and highly scalable infrastructure that will grow as they do. Alcatel-Lucent's IP/MPLS-based solution and a rich set of comprehensive services will also enable MTN Nigeria to generate new revenue streams by leveraging broadband IP to deliver video rich content and multimedia data services and application awareness to deliver premium and managed services to enterprise customers.

This new network is based on Alcatel-Lucent's High Leverage Network (HLN) architecture, which combines an all-IP network infrastructure, underpinned by MPLS and pseudowire technologies, with embedded intelligence and application awareness in order to improve the end-user's experience and bring new services to market more efficiently on a common IP platform.

According to Ahmad Farroukh, CEO of MTN Nigeria: "Since its inception, MTN Nigeria has invested in cutting-edge technology in order to deliver world-class products and services to our customers. We are pleased to partner with Alcatel-Lucent to deliver a solution that will improve customer experience. Our customers are kings and we are committed to deploying the latest advances in technology to serve them better."

"Alcatel-Lucent is fully engaged to help customers drive their transformation and business in the most cost-effective way", said Adolfo Hernandez, President of Alcatel-Lucent's activities in EMEA. "In this regard, we will ensure MTN Nigeria will save on OPEX due to the simplicity of common operational processes and procedures and they'll have a network in place which supports a smooth transition to Long Term Evolution (LTE) if they choose to do so."

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)