By TSA Newsfeed

Alcatel-Lucent has announced that it has been selected, in consortium with Elettra — a Telecom Italia Group company specialized in survey, installation and maintenance of submarine cable networks — for a turnkey project with GO p.l.c. (GO), Malta's leading telecom operator, to deploy a new submarine network between Malta and Italy.

Named GO-1 Mediterranean Cable System, this high-speed network will provide GO with extra capacity to further enhance the delivery of its quadruple play services to businesses and consumers. Austin Gatt, Minister for Investment, Industry and IT, and other authorities attended the ceremony held in St. Julian's, Malta, during which representatives from GO and Alcatel-Lucent announced the project.

Delivering an ultimate capacity of 480 Gbps, this new submarine network will link St Paul's Bay in Malta to Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, in Southern Italy. Once completed in the fourth quarter 2008, it will further optimize the delivery of advanced broadband services including fixed and mobile data services, broadband Internet, digital TV, hosting and co-location services. Direct connectivity to existing submarine networks in the area will also be enabled, further strengthening Italy's role as regional communication hub.

Alcatel-Lucent will design, manufacture and commission the submarine cable system, based on its dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology and cables, with the ability to be upgraded easily and cost-effectively in the future. Elettra will design the route and perform marine surveys and installation of the submarine cable system.

“With today's market changes, we have to address increased connectivity requirements, while minimizing our operational costs and guaranteeing easy-to-operate services and applications to our end-users”, stated David Kay, CEO at GO. “Alcatel-Lucent's and Elettra's field-proven experience helps us enhance the efficiency and quality of service of our communication infrastructure for greater end-user satisfaction.”

“We are committed to address our customers' needs for flexibility and reliability, which are key for the cost-effective delivery of innovative services”, said Etienne Lafougère, President of Alcatel-Lucent's submarine network activity. “We are delivering the most advanced submarine technology to meet GO's existing and new service demands, as well as to keep pace with the fast growing broadband adoption rates of its end-users.”

“We are proud to cooperate with Alcatel-Lucent for the implementation of this important telecommunication infrastructure”, said Andrea Ridolfi, Commercial and Marketing Director of Elettra. “The extensive experience we gathered in the provision of tailor made submarine cable services worldwide, allows us to ensure a smooth and reliable implementation of the system”

This new project further strengthens the cooperation between Alcatel-Lucent and GO that has already deployed Alcatel-Lucent's access, optical, mobile and wireless transport solutions.