NextGen Voice

Alcatel Shanghai Bell Announces Completion of TD-SCDMA PTN in Shanxi

By Jayashree Adkoli, TMCnet Contributor

Alcatel-Lucent’s Chinese flagship company Alcatel Shanghai Bell’s packet transport network will reportedly be powering China Mobile’s time division synchronous code division multiple access, or “TD-SCDMA,” data services in Shanxi, China.

 

With the help of Alcatel Shanghai Bell’s PTN, China Mobile (News - Alert) is now able to provide enhanced TD-SCDMA data services to its customers in the central Chinese city of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, according to sources. In general, TD-SCDMA is a mobile radio air interface and an international 3G standard adopted by ITU and 3GPP.  

 

Recently, China Mobile launched its packet transmission network equipment tender. It is China’s first telecom carrier to apply for PTN technology in its transmission network.

 

The company has not detailed on how many equipment it plans to buy. The company will be requiring the PTN equipment to have features of packet transmission, protection, clock synchronization, as well as time synchronization.

 

Officials with China Mobile said that the company would be deciding on a case-by-case basis in terms of the scale of the city. The PTN equipment bought will be mainly serving corporate users of 2G and 3G services.

 

Packet transport network is a next generation transmission technology. It is characterized by its adoption of the time-of-day interfaces, the first type of clock accounting interfaces compatible with China Mobile's technological standards.

 

Alcatel Lucent Shanghai Bell’s one of the executives said in a statement that the PTN could help realize high-precision network synchronization and clear the limits imposed by GPS receiving systems on base stations.

 

Alcatel Lucent Shanghai Bell started its PTN's TD-SCDMA network testing inside the laboratory in July 2008 and outside the laboratory later. The PTN installation and debugging was completed in Taiyuan.

 

Officials with China Mobile said that the company has sent the bidding documents for PTN procurement to six other telecoms equipment providers like Huawei (News - Alert) Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp.

 

Alcatel Shanghai Bell said that it has made a long-term commitment to the development and promotion of TD-SCDMA within China and worldwide. The company entered into a strategic partnership with Datang Mobile in 2004 for further development of TD-SCDMA.

 

In 2007, Alcatel Shanghai Bell and Datang Mobile together announced their success in China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA trial network expansion, in the cities of Shanghai and Guanghzou in China.

Jayashree Adkoli is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Jayashree's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Amy Tierney