In order to unlock the vast potential of the African market, Globacom, the second national carrier of Nigeria, has awarded Alcatel a major global frame contract, with an initial order of 675 M, for the supply of a nation-wide turnkey mobile and fixed telecommunications network, including microwave routes. The first part of the global agreement will provide Globacom with an enhanced mobile and fixed infrastructure with a capacity of two million users in 75 cities, with Alcatel conducting the global project management including implementation, installation, integration, as well as network testing and commissioning.


At the core of the network is the industry-leading Evolium™ solution, including the radio access network (base stations and base station controllers) as well as a circuit and packet core network, while integrating the General Packet Radio Service technology. Alcatel's GPRS network and services are a natural part of the migration path to 3G/UMTS technology.

To carry the traffic, the network will also utilize the company's Local Multipoint Distribution Services (LMDS), as well as low medium and high capacity microwave radio systems, thus totalling 3000 km of microwave routes. Their deployment will provide a mobile backhaul solution to transport growing amounts of mobile voice and data traffic on top of the traditional fixed-broadband enterprise access services.

A fixed wireline network for an initial capacity of 500,000 subscribers will also be implemented in the 15 largest cities of the country. For long distance services, a 2300 km long fibre optic backbone based on Alcatel's SDH Optical Multi-Service Nodes (OMSN) systems will be deployed to interconnect major cities in the country. This will enable operators and service providers to support the delivery of traditional and emerging data services.