Harris Stratex Networks Inc., a provider of wireless solutions that enable the evolution of next-generation fixed and mobile broadband networks, announced it has signed a contract with ICOMM, one of India's leading groups in the field of telecom, power transmission and distribution EPC, solar and infrastructure, to supply, install, commission and maintain an IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX network for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). Under the multi-year contract, Harris Stratex will supply its StarMAX™ WiMAX solution to extend BSNL’s public wireless access network to provide high-speed wireless mobility services to enterprise and retail customers in urban areas across the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Under the agreement, Harris Stratex will supply its StarMAX WiMAX Forum Certified™ IEEE 802.16e-2005 base stations, along with solutions for access services network (ASN) gateway; home agent; authentication, authorization and accounting; and network management system. Customer premises equipment and subscriber units will be supplied by ICOMM, along with deployment and project management services.

Formed in 2000, BSNL is the world's seventh-largest telecommunications company and provides a comprehensive range of telecom services to 7,330 cities and towns, and 550,000 villages across India. In 2008, the government of India awarded BSNL 20 MHz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, enabling the operator to introduce mobile WiMAX to expand the reach of its broadband network to deliver services to India’s un-served and under-served communities, including rural and urban areas. The contract award to ICOMM and Harris Stratex will enable broadband services to be deployed throughout the state of Kerala, India’s fourth largest telecom market by revenue with a population of more than 35 million people in an area of 38,000 square kilometers. This mobile WiMAX rollout by BSNL will represent one of the largest deployments of this technology in the world.

“We are excited to work with Harris Stratex as a part of BSNL’s landmark WiMAX network deployment. By combining ICOMM’s infrastructure build-out expertise with Harris Stratex’ sophisticated end-to-end 802.16e WiMAX solutions and top-tier customer focus, we will enable BSNL to provide its broadband users highly-reliable high-speed mobile broadband services,” said C.S. Rao, Chairman, ICOMM.

“We greatly appreciate BSNL’s strategic leadership in India and its efforts to help the government reach its target of 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010, and are extremely proud to be a part of this very important undertaking,” said Harald Braun, President and CEO, Harris Stratex. “We are thrilled to work with ICOMM to deploy one of the world’s largest, most sophisticated 4G WiMAX networks for BSNL.”