Iskratel enhances FTTH offering in France with new Telenco Distribution partnership

Iskratel, the European provider of broadband access solutions, is engaged in partnership with French telecommunications engineering company Telenco Distribution as it continues to expand its activity in the French market.

As part of the new partnership, Telenco Distribution will provide Iskratel’s full range of innovative GPON solutions for future-proof upgrades of Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) networks across France. This will enable Telenco Distribution to meet the demands of some of France’s leading telecom players, as well as the rising demand for ultra-fast broadband across the country.

“Our company is extremely proud to have concluded this distribution agreement with a leading European partner such as Iskratel,” said Manuel Panart, CEO of Telenco Distribution. “This new offer allows Telenco distribution to provide its major customers with new products and dedicated technical support and is fully in line with our diversification strategy.”

The collaboration comes as the French Government sets out its ambitious plan – Plan France Très Haut Débit 2013-2022 (PFTHD) – which aims for all households to have access to broadband speeds of 30Mbps or more by 2022, of which 80% should be supplied by fibre to their property.

“Telenco Distribution is the French-leading distributor of telecom equipment for technicians and fibre optic/copper networks,” said Laurent Conrad, Commercial Director at Telenco Distribution. “In the context of the French high-speed broadband plan, Telenco Distribution has built a global offering of passive materials and equipment for technicians and network maintenance dedicated to operators and network installers named ‘Axe Fibre’. The partnership between Telenco Distribution and Iskratel gives a new dimension to Telenco’s ‘Axe Fibre’ offering.

“Iskratel’s range of GPON Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) and Home Gateways meet the needs of alternative operators covering RIP projects. Iskratel is also one of the few vendors able to provide complete GPON solutions to European operators directly from Europe, with complete support available from its European headquarters and Research and Design facilities, making it an ideal partner for us. As a result of the partnership, we can now provide the French market with active equipment and all associated services for its implementation.”

Under the partnership, Telenco Distribution, part of The Telenco Group, will export Iskratel’s GPON portfolio across France. This includes Iskratel’s new customised centralised management system which allows operators to optimise their network operations, reducing operational expense and allowing problems to be fixed before customers complain. Iskratel’s FTTH Home Gateways have supported the GPON standard for the last ten years and enable operators to seamlessly migrate to next-generation PON networks, without having to replace their existing hardware.

In addition, Telenco Distribution’s customers will be able to seamlessly upgrade their networks via a simple software upgrade to virtualised, cloud-based infrastructures using Iskratel’s new OLT, which can transform its SI3000 Lumia G16 compact GPON OLT into a fully virtualised, CORD-compliant OLT.

“To enhance and extend our market growth in France, it was vital that we chose a strong partner such as Telenco Distribution, which has a proven track record and valuable expertise in meeting the specific requirements of operators in the market,” said Thomas Mila, Sales Manager at Iskratel. “This partnership is an important stride in bringing Iskratel’s future-proof broadband solutions to the homes of end-users across France and ultimately, enabling operators to meet the rising demands for ultra-fast broadband speeds, cost-effectively and in real-time.”

Iskratel’s partnership program is available to local telecommunication solution providers across the globe to help them become leading providers in innovative broadband-based solutions in their regions.