Alcatel has been selected by the Principality of Asturias, Spain, to deploy a Fiber to the User - FTTU - network in the mining valley of Asturias. The network will provide thousands of residents of regions near the Caudal, Nalón and Narcea river basins, access to high speed Internet and bandwidth-intensive applications.

Alcatel is the turnkey provider of this 19 million euro project, with full responsibility for the network design and planning, as well as for its deployment, service roll out and maintenance, for the Asturias' local authority.

Alcatel will also supply its 7450 Ethernet Service Switch - ESS - to ensure interconnection between the multiple networks, and to provide the various network operators within this northern Spanish region with the flexibility required to differentiate service types. The Alcatel 7450 ESS will also provide cost-effective broadband aggregation which will help optimize capacity in the FTTH network.

The Alcatel solution will allow users to access a wide range of voice, IP television - IPTV - and Internet services, at speeds of up to 10 Mbps, with the flexibility to expand in the future.

"With today's advanced networks, it is now possible to introduce a compelling array of services that in the past were not possible, given bandwidth and access constraints. With the deployment by Alcatel of this broadband network, we can satisfy one of our government's prime objectives : to offer the most advanced communications services regardless of whether the citizens are located in remote or densely-populated centers," stated Luis Iturrioz, Vice Minister of Budget and Public Administration for the Principality of Asturias. "This is a great step forward."

"Alcatel's solution together with our expertise in the management of turnkey projects will make it possible to reduce the digital divide in the mining areas, guaranteeing access to high value added user-centric services to most population centers of above 1,000 inhabitants," added Frederic Rose, President of Alcatel's integration and services activities."