European broadband service provider
Star One announced
Monday it will spend $224 million on turnkey infrastructure
in Germany, in a deal with
Nortel Networks.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nortel Networks will
build and test the network, then transfer it to Star One, using
its Reunion broadband wireless access solution, Preside network
management and Shasta 5000 broadband service node.
Christian Golaszewski, chief operating officer at Star One,
said that, until now, monopoly by the national telecoms
operator has kept access costs high, limiting broadband
access in the last mile in Germany.
“We believe huge potential has been unleashed with liberalization
of the local loop, and we are striking early to ensure that business
customers can enjoy high-capacity data and Internet services at
low cost,” said Golaszewski.
Recently, Star One secured a 3,000-kilometer fiber backbone,
and says it expects to invest over $490 million in Germany
by the end of 2002.
Star One is also a senior partner in the SkyPoint S.A. consortium,
which this year gained a national 26 GHz point-to-multiple point wireless
local loop license in Spain. SkyPoint is said to be targeting other
European markets as well.
Pascal Debon, president, Service Provider Solutions for Nortel Networks,
said that broadband wireless networks are beginning to take off across
Europe because more countries are granting operator licenses.
“We can quickly equip service providers like Star One to roll out a
broadband wireless network in a cost-effective manner, thus empowering
them to become key players in an increasingly competitive marketplace,”
said Debon.
Josef Ellmauer, chief executive officer, Nortel Dasa, commented that
the Star One network would be another milestone in bringing the
high-performance Internet to Germany.
“Nortel Networks’ Reunion enables operators to deliver services to new
and existing customers without long lead times, high costs or complicated
deployments, allowing timely return on investments,” said Ellmauer.
Last year, Nortel Networks (NT) had U.S. GAAP revenues of $21.3 billion.
