Alcatel and ICE sign $149 million contract to roll out first GSM/GPRS network in Costa Rica - Network Developments - Brief Article

Mobile Internet, The, April, 2002

Alcatel signed a $149 million contract with ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad), the incumbent telecommunications service provider in Costa Rica, to provide a full turnkey GSM 1800/GPRS mobile services nationwide network. The Alcatel GSM 1 800/GPRS network will support up to 400,000 lines and will overlay a previous D-AMPS network. It will offer enhanced mobile data services such as broadband Internet and M-commerce, as well as wireless data transactions at speeds reaching 115 Kbps--about twice the speed of the fastest dial-up modems. Thanks to Alcatel's complete GPRS end-to-end solution, ICE will ensure a natural migration path to 3G.

Alcatel will supply its industry leading Evolium solution which is composed of a radio base station subsystem, a core network sub system, including a mobile switching center, and a home location register. Alcatel will also supply an Intelligent Network platform for value-added services and revenue-generating applications such as prepaid, voice mail service and a short message service center. To carry high-capacity traffic between the base stations, the network will use Alcatel's microwave radio systems with an efficient and powerful network management platform. Along with providing the infrastructure equipment, Alcatel will ensure the entire management of the project, including network planning and implementation, site acquisition and construction and network operation and maintenance.