PARIS -- Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecommunications service provider, has chosen Ekinops to provide optical transport equipment to connect key Bezeq sites in the north and south of the country.

Ekinops, a leading designer and supplier of next generation optical equipment, and its partner, Rotal Networks, provided Bezeq with a state-of-the art optical transport and DWDM platform, the Ekinops 360. Bezeq is leveraging the platform's superior optical performance to maximize the capacity of its fiber network.

Bezeq has been on a multi-year mission to upgrade its network and deploy an advanced NGN (Next Generation Network) to support new high-speed broadband services and advanced IP telephony services to its residential and business customers.

“Half of the country is already connected to the new NGN and in 2011 we expect to reach 80 percent” said Mr. Itzik Cohen, director of transport and data engineering at Bezeq. “Every week thousands of new homes are being connected and we need to have the optical backbone to support this growth. The Ekinops 360 platform is a cost-effective, carrier-class solution that allows us to consolidate many fibers into one, freeing up fiber cables for other revenue opportunities. It’s a very attractive business case.”

Bezeq, The Israel Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. (OTC: BZQIF)