Alcatel-Lucent has been selected, in consortium with Elettra - a Telecom Italia Group company specialized in survey, installation and maintenance of submarine cable networks - for a turnkey project with GO, Malta’s leading telecom operator, to deploy a new submarine network between Malta and Italy.

Named GO-1 Mediterranean Cable System, this high-speed network will provide GO with extra capacity to further enhance the delivery of its quadruple play services to businesses and consumers.

Delivering an ultimate capacity of 480 Gbit/s, this new submarine network will link St Paul’s Bay in Malta to Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, in Southern Italy. Once completed in the fourth quarter 2008, it will further optimize the delivery of advanced broadband services including fixed and mobile data services, broadband Internet, digital TV, hosting and co-location services. Direct connectivity to existing submarine networks in the area will also be enabled, further strengthening Italy’s role as regional communication hub.

Alcatel-Lucent will design, manufacture and commission the submarine cable system, based on its dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology and cables, with the ability to be upgraded easily and cost-effectively in the future. Elettra will design the route andperform marine surveys and installation of the submarine cable system.

This new project further strengthens the cooperation between Alcatel-Lucent and GO that has already deployed Alcatel-Lucent’s access, optical, mobile and wireless transport solutions.