Thailand's DTAC selects Alcatel-Lucent to enable ultra-broadband on 4G LTE

In its bid to embrace 4G, DTAC, one of Thailand’s largest mobile operators, has chosen Alcatel-Lucent Agile Optical Networking to upgrade its existing 3G network and lay the foundation for a 4G LTE network that will eventually deliver ultra-broadband mobile access to more than 40 percent of the Thai population.

Deployment of the 100 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) optical network is already under way in Bangkok, the Thai capital and a major regional financial hub, with expansion to other parts of Thailand to continue throughout 2014.

Thailand currently has more than 93 million mobile subscribers – approximately 1.3 mobile devices for everyone in its total population of 68.4 million people. Along with the addressing annual domestic data subscriber growth of 17% in 2013, the new DTAC network will also be able to handle the large number of tourists visiting Thailand, generating even more data traffic.

As part of this deal, DTAC is deploying Alcatel-Lucent’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) converged Wave Division Multiplexing/Optical Transport Network (WDM/OTN) platform first in Bangkok, one of the most visited cities in the world and a major business center for the region.

New optical network will support DTAC’s mobile subscription growth rate of 6 percent per year plus the large number of visitors bringing their own devices into the country, providing all users with fast broadband needed for increasingly sophisticated high-bandwidth mobile services such as streaming video and data-enstives applications.

DTAC is also deploying Alcatel-Lucent’s intelligent generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) Control Plane that ensures automated network operation and the highest level of service protection for maximum reliability.

Panya Vechbanyongratana, Senior Vice President, Network Operations Division, Total Access Communication PLC or dtac said: “This is the first deployment of 100G GMPLS in Thailand which enables us to offer our expanding roster of customers, and especially smartphone users, the best possible service. Alcatel-Lucent’s technology will also allow us to make a smooth and cost-effective transition to 4G when the time is right.

Sebastien Laurent, President and Managing Director for Alcatel-Lucent in Thailand, said: “Our 100G technology, which is proven in the global market, is allowing DTAC to greatly expand the capacity of its network and improve customer experience while decreasing its total cost of ownership. At the same time, we are supplying DTAC with a platform that is flexible enough to expand capacity further to 400G speeds down the road.”

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