Alcatel-Lucent will soon be building a gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) solution for Vodacom South Africa so as to expand its customer’s base enterprise and residential markets.

The new converged network enables Vodacom to provide customers with ultra-broadband needed to access bandwidth-hungry services and applications such as online gaming and streaming video.

Andries Delport, Vodacom Group Chief Technology Officer (CTO) said: “We first began talking with Alcatel-Lucent about expanding Vodacom’s business into the fixed access market five years ago. This was a significant move for us and required a great deal of consideration. Over time, the Alcatel-Lucent team was able to show that it was the right move for us and that their solution was the best for our needs.”

The network will be made available in Pretoria, Cape Town, Joburg and Durban. It will enable Vodacom to offer mobile, voice, video and data services to 250,000  homes and businesses within the next three years.

Vodacom will deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s comprehensive end-to-end GPON solution, as well as the Motive customer experience platform to provide high-quality network performance through advanced performance management capabilities across both wireline and wireless.  Vodacom expects to reach about 150,000 homes and 100,000 businesses within the next three years.

Willem Hendrickx, President of Alcatel-Lucent Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said: “This effort represents a significant and bold move by Vodacom into the fixed network space and allows them to take advantage of new, revenue-generating business models.  We are excited that our technology, expertise and knowledge are helping take Vodacom to the next level of converged communications.”

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