Alcatel Reports New DSL Product, Customer News

Alcatel today unleashed a flurry of new DSL news, including enhancements to its DSLAM 7300 Advanced Services Access Manager (ASAM), two new customer wins and the fact that it has shipped 20 million lines of DSL as of the third quarter.

Alcatel has introduced a new low-profile, high-density remote DSLAM requiring very low power. Jay Fausch, senior director of marketing, says the new DSLAM fills a niche between Alcatel’s large and small (eight-line) remote terminal products. The new box, which supports up to 216 DSL subscribers, includes a 24-port card, 9 slots and has built-in splitters.

Also this week Alcatel announced that its products, through a new software load now available, can now support DSL Forum Technical Report 37-compliant auto configuration. The TR defines the communications needed to take place between the network and a piece of DSL CPE to perform auto configuration of network communication parameters, explains Fausch. The bottom line is that support of the TR will enable DSL CPE to be sold retail and will allow carriers using the equipment to automate the ordering and configuration processes.

Alcatel is also this week announces DSL advances across the pond. The vendor says it is introducing in Europe an ETSI-complaint VDSL line card as well as a higher-density (48-port) line card for the 7300. Fausch explains that some European carriers are now interested in beginning VDSL field trials. The company has not introduced the VDSL card in the U.S., he explains, because there’s not much demand for such a product. Qwest has been the only U.S. carrier in recent VDSL trials, but that carrier is not an Alcatel customer, he says. (Even Qwest, which is struggling with financial troubles, now seems to be pulling back from its earlier-stated interest in offering consumer video services.) In other Alcatel news in Europe, the vendor has added Ethernet as a network termination option for its ETSI-compliant 7300 ASAM.

In customer news, Alcatel this week reports that it has won a multimillion dollar DSL contract from Zhejiang Telecom for approximately 180,000 lines. This contract – won through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's flagship Chinese company – follows an 80,000 line contract from the operator to Alcatel in May 2002. With this contract, Alcatel has now supplied a total of 360,000 DSL lines in Zhejiang Province, equivalent to a 60 percent market share.

This project is the second phase of Zhejiang Province’s DSL expansion and the biggest broadband project in Zhejiang so far. The contract covers the Province’s most important cities including Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Wenzhou. With this expansion, Zhejiang Telecom will raise its network capacity from 250,000 lines to 600,000 lines, which makes Zhejiang Telecom the fastest-growing

Alcatel also this week announced a multimillion-deal with Australia’s Telstra for DSL equipment. Beginning in October, the Alcatel 7300 ASAM will allow Telstra to offer both residential and business services, while providing a seamless migration path to new broadband-based entertainment services. Recent feature enhancements to the Alcatel 7300 ASAM include the multiservice Internet Protocol Services Module (ISM) which can potentially bring higher-value, IP-based services such as video on demand and music downloads closer to the DSL subscriber.

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