Alcatel-Lucent to Build the First Universal WiMAX Network in Taiwan

Alcatel-Lucent announced that it has been selected by Taiwan's largest telecommunications provider, Chunghwa Telecom, to deploy Taiwan's first Universal WiMAX network. The new wireless broadband network will allow Chunghwa Telecom customers in the central commercial district of the densely populated metropolitan area of Taoyuan county to benefit from high-speed Internet access.

The deployment of the WiMAX network is expected to accelerate the realization of the Mobile Taiwan (M-Taiwan) project, whose goal is to bring local government and private sector partners together to create the infrastructure necessary to make wireless broadband service available across the island. In the future, Chunghwa Telecom and the Taoyuan county government plan to develop and introduce applications such as remote medical services and e-learning for use by county residents.

"Alcatel-Lucent is a leading proponent of Universal WiMAX technology and committed early to developing it," said Frederic Rose, President Alcatel-Lucent Asia Pacific region. "The experience we have acquired along the way has enabled us to develop a solution that is stable, scalable and offers a clear migration path to future applications. Customers such as Chunghwa Telecom are confident in our solution and are partnering with us to provide their users with access to high-speed wireless applications."

To stimulate the rapid adoption of Universal WiMAX in Taiwan, Alcatel-Lucent will work closely with local manufacturers to help develop requisite customer premise equipment, and is establishing a WiMAX interoperability testing centre. Chunghwa Telecom's Universal WiMAX network will fully comply with the IEEE 802.16e-2005 (also called Rev-e) standard for fixed, nomadic and mobile usage. Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its end-to-end WiMAX solution, including 2X2 multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) technology, which can help increase capacity and coverage. Alcatel-Lucent will also be providing Chunghwa Telecom multi-vendor network integration, engineering and installation support.