14 January 2004 Petah Tikva, Israel Lightwave Europe -- Connex, a leading GSM operator in Romania, has deployed ECI Telecom's XDM MultiService Provisioning Platform (MSPP) for the development of a new SDH backbone network in Eastern Romania. XDM platforms are already installed and running live traffic in Bucharest, Brashov, Constanta and other locations in Romania, enabling Connex to provide business and residential customers with a range of GSM, GPRS, voice, data, and Internet services.
Partially owned by Vodafone UK and Canadian telco Telesystem International Wireless (TIW), Connex is a pioneer in the European mobile telecommunications market and the telecom market leader in Romania. Launched in 1997, the company says it holds a 50% market share with subscriber numbers reaching a total of 3 million. Connex selected optical transmission equipment from ECI Telecom to strengthen its foothold in the Romanian market.
Connex's existing network is based on SDH transmission infrastructure, which covers 95% of the Romanian population and offers roaming in 107 territories through 244 operators. ECI's three-year frame agreement with Connex involved the deployment of ECI's XDM multiservice metro optical platforms across major urban centres in the Eastern part of Romania.
The XDM installation enables Connex to develop its presence in this region, whilst at the same time offering a cost-effective way to connect multi-service broadband subscribers to the transport backbone by avoiding the traditional need to invest in numerous systems. The XDM MSPP converges intelligent optical networking capabilities with advanced data functionality, including ATM and Ethernet Layer 2 over SDH/SONET and DWDM.
"Romania is the second largest telecoms market in Central and Eastern Europe and presents significant potential for new revenue generation," reports Ido Gur, vice president of sales and marketing, ECI's OpticalINetworks Division. "We feel privileged to be selected for this optical transmission project, leveraging our past successes with the Vodafone Group."