Alcatel-Lucent Completes Trial of EDGE Technology in Bangladesh

Alcatel-Lucent announced that it has successfully completed the first live trials of EDGE technology in Bangladesh on TM International Bangladesh (TMIB) commercial GSM 900MHz and 1800 MHz network. Alcatel-Lucent has upgraded TMIB's existing Alcatel-Lucent-supplied GSM infrastructure with simple software activation to support the 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 of 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."

"Alcatel-Lucent's EDGE technology will uniquely position TMIB to deliver applications and solutions that will provide an enriched communications experience to TMIB's residential and business customers," said Olivier Picard, President Alcatel-Lucent Europe and South.

EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technology provides up to three times the data capacity of GPRS. EDGE uses the same Time Division Multiple Access frame structure, logic channel and 200kHz carrier bandwidth as today's GSM networks, which allows it to be overlaid directly onto an existing GSM network. For many existing GSM/GPRS networks, EDGE is a simple software-upgrade.