Alcatel-Lucent reportedly has signed a multi-million Euro frame contract with Saudi Telecom, a telecommunications operator in Saudi Arabia, to expand, extend and upgrade its existing broadband network to serve an additional two million residential and enterprise customers by the end of 2010. 

Due to the contract, underserved customers in Saudi Arabia will now be able to enjoy triple play services such as IPTV and converged communications.

“Our strong presence in Saudi Arabia and our long-term history with Saudi Telecom (News - Alert) enabled us to understand its network requirements, and work together to provide the best solution in an optimal timeframe,” said Vincenzo Nesci, vice president for Middle East and Africa, Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), in a statement.

Company officials said that Alcatel-Lucent as part of the pact will provide its packet optical transport solution for DSLAM traffic aggregation and Ethernet business services, along with its DSL and GPON /MSAN technology. 

The company will also leverage its services expertise in the areas of project management, network analysis, software integration, integration services and technical support services to deliver a true turnkey services solution, company sources said. This provides better coverage for broadband services and increases the bandwidth for enhanced applications, such as IPTV (News - Alert) and other innovative triple play services. 

Earlier this month Alcatel-Lucent had announced that China Telecom (News - Alert), through its subsidiary Shanghai Telecom, has successfully tested and validated Alcatel-Lucent’s multicarrier EV-DO solution, based on the Rev. B standard. 

Alcatel-Lucent’s solution will enable Shanghai Telecom to boost its network speed by up to three times and offer increasingly sophisticated 3G services. The contract was signed through Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, Alcatel-Lucent’s Chinese flagship company.

Alcatel-Lucent is the sole equipment provider for China’s first multicarrier EV-DO demo launched in Shanghai Telecom’s InfoSpace (News - Alert) demonstration center.

The demo showcases a 3G network environment with a download rate up to 9.3 Mbps and lower latencies on the application layer, which will greatly improve end-users’ experience when subscribing to bandwidth-consuming mobile services such as VoIP, video telephony and multimedia.