Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), the leading power supplier in Taiwan, has awarded Alcatel a multimillion US dollar contract to implement a digital microwave radio backbone network.
Leveraging the company's digital microwave technology, the project will enhance the efficiency of Taipower's network to carry voice and data traffic across its power plants.
Scheduled to be complete in 2004, the microwave backbone will span 1,400 km north to south of Taiwan and include 51 microwave stations.
The contract relies on the deployment of the Alcatel MDR-8000, a low to high capacity platform for point-to-point wireless communication links, with a wide ranging scalability to meet the changing needs of wireless transport, and its implementation is seen as complementary to the existing fibre network, which is based on the company's data-aware Optical Multi-service Node (OMSN) systems.
Commenting on the significance of the contract, Gerard Galbe, general manager of Alcatel's optical and wireless transmission activities in Taiwan, stated, "Alcatel provides a comprehensive product and service portfolio addressing mobile, fixed and non-carrier operators, which can be tailored according to customer requirements."