Alcatel has been awarded a Euro 30 million contract with Iraqi Telecommunications & Post Corporation (ITPC), the sole fixed operator in Iraq, to deliver a turnkey high capacity nation-wide microwave backbone.

In a devastated country, a network for fixed, mobile and data services is growing. Is it a sing for normality, a futile investment or even a new support for the war?

The contract will be financed by the World Bank.

ITPC will be able to handle the ever-growing national traffic caused by continuous increasing demands in the capital and in the country. The network will allow ITPC to provide fixed, mobile and data services very quickly according to the Telco activity development the operator wants to promote.

Alcatel will provide a backbone covering 62 sites along three important routes in the country. The company will supply its Alcatel 9600 LSY high-capacity long haul digital microwave radio transmission backbone along with Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) systems, PDH multiplex and cross connect, complemented by a network management, power supply equipment and towers providing control and routing throughout the network.

“We are confident that our long-term partner will deliver such unique network backbone in the agreed time frames in order to have it fully operational by beginning 2008. We have an urge to reconstruct the network in Iraq and we are convinced that Alcatel is the right partner for that,” says H.E. Mohamed S. Mohamed El Hamadany, Iraq Deputy Minister of Communications.

“Taking advantage of our deep knowledge of the Iraqi telecommunications services, we are convinced that this cutting-edge network will contribute to help Iraq to accelerate the reconstruction of their country,” comments Vincenzo Nesci, Vice president of Alcatel’s activities in the Middle East.