Alcatel-Lucent, TMIB Trial EDGE

PARIS -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has successfully conducted the first live field trials of EDGE technology in Bangladesh on TM International (Bangladesh) Limited's (TMIB) commercial GSM 900MHz and 1800 MHz network (called AKTEL).

Alcatel-Lucent was able to quickly and easily upgrade TMIB’s existing Alcatel-Lucent-supplied GSM infrastructure equipment with simple software activation to support the EDGE trial, which was conducted in the city center of Dhaka. Data speeds faster than 230 kilobits per second were achieved without the need for additional infrastructure equipment. EDGE wireless technology provides up to three times the data capacity of the technology currently deployed, enabling service providers to serve three times as many subscribers, triple their data rate per subscriber or add extra capacity to their voice communications.

"Alcatel-Lucent's GSM/EDGE solution provides a smooth and cost-effective evolution to EDGE technology, which increases data transmission rates with great spectral efficiency and facilitates the introduction of new applications," said Kamshul Bin Kasim, CTO, AKTEL (TMIB).

"With the GSM infrastructure supplied by Alcatel-Lucent being EDGE ready and with the excellent performance realized during the trial, we will deploy a superior and field-ready solution with the fastest time to market. In addition, with EDGE, the same time slot can support more users. This reduces radio resources required to support the same traffic, freeing up capacity for more data or voice services," he added.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)