Orange Works with Alcatel-Lucent to Complete Successful First Phase of LTE Mobile Broadband Technology

In partnership with Alcatel-Lucent, Orange has announced the successful completion of the first phase of its trail of Long Term Evolution (LTE (News - Alert)) mobile broadband technology with a live network in France.


According to company officials, this trial has enabled Orange to develop hands-on insights into the capabilities of LTE technology and evaluate how it performs in a real, live network environment.

Orange is now evaluating the introduction of new multimedia applications over an LTE mobile network, including Voice over IP (VoIP) steered by IMS and streaming video. This effort is part of the ongoing work Orange has been doing to prepare for a timely implementation of LTE in support of customer demand.

Following initial testing in Orange’s R&D laboratories, a network was deployed in the vicinity of Orange France’s offices in the south of Paris to conduct LTE tests in actual operating conditions using the 2.6 GHz frequency band. The results of this test revealed excellent network stability and very good performance, in line with 3GPP standards expectations, using Alcatel-Lucent’s (News - Alert) end-to-end LTE solution.

'The first results obtained on the LTE trial network are encouraging: the user experience and the quality are very good inside the buildings as well as on the move,' said Alain Maloberti, Group VP, Networks, Architecture and Design for France Telecom (News - Alert)-Orange, in a statement.

'We are confident in the capability of the LTE technology to provide improved customer experience, easier network configuration & management and reduced cost to serve. We are eager to proceed to the next phases of our trial, including VoIP, service continuity between 3G and LTE, video streaming, and self-optimization.'

Alcatel-Lucent deployed an end-to-end LTE solution for the trial that included base stations (eNodeBs), Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and its associated management system. The company also provided critical professional services such as the istallation and commissioning for all of the equipment deployed for the LTE trail in addition to configuration, performance monitoring and fault management.

The network will also utilize subscriber services provided by Alcatel-Lucent's IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) (IMS) and Mobile TV offerings - supporting a consistent multi-screen experience for communication and entertainment services.

'These first successful results are a major step in the adoption process of LTE technology in Europe, and more specifically in France, and highlights Alcatel-Lucent's position at the forefront of the development of 4G,' said Pierre Barnabe, Head of Alcatel-Lucent in France.

'This joint success bears witness to the trust that Orange has placed in Alcatel-Lucent to test LTE live in its main market. We are working in close cooperation with the teams at Orange R&D to contribute to the definition of an end-to-end network architecture that can support future needs of Orange.'

In other Orange news, the company reportedly received three new ISO certificates for its major service center in Delhi, India, along with major extensions to its management systems internationally. The company considers the awards to be proof of the quality of its management system throughout the world.