March 24, 2010 - From CTIA WIRELESS 2010®Verizon Wireless has selected Alcatel-Lucent’s mobile backhaul solution, which transports voice and data traffic from wireless base stations to the broad network, to support Verizon Wireless’ 3G network and prepare for its advanced 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.In 2009, Verizon Wireless selected Alcatel-Lucent as one of the providers of the LTE Radio Access Network (RAN) and Enhanced Packet Core (EPC) and parts of the IP Multi-Media Subsystem (IMS) network.

U.S. consumers are becoming increasingly vocal when their current wireless service providers don’t meet coverage, speed and bandwidth needs.  To support planned growth over its existing 3G network, Verizon Wireless is using Alcatel-Lucent’s mobile backhaul solution to consolidate services over a single packet-based network, supporting current as well as future needs for the 4G LTE network.

Tony Melone, chief technical officer for Verizon Wireless, said, "Alcatel-Lucent has been a long-time partner because they get the job done. While being among the first on the globe to deploy LTE has its challenges, we know Alcatel-Lucent can rise to this challenge with backhaul solutions our customers demand.”

“Verizon Wireless was an early mover toward LTE by being the first service provider to announce plans to deploy a commercial network and clearly is setting the pace for the industry,” said Robert Vrij, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Americas Region. “By choosing a comprehensive mobile backhaul solution early in the development process — from the IP backbone through to the cell tower — Verizon Wireless is positively positioning itself to handle the data explosion and growing need for high-bandwidth applications and content that LTE will enable.”

Alcatel-Lucent offers a comprehensive mobile backhaul solution — from the IP backbone through to the cell tower. The Alcatel-Lucent solution includes the 7750 Service Router, 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR) and the 5620 Service Aware Manager.  The Alcatel-Lucent portfolio of IP/MPLS products delivers a strong foundation on which a family of packet solutions for mobile networks is delivered. These solutions support reliable, scalable, future-proof, cost-efficient and fully-managed transport, allowing mobile operators to take full control of their networks and quickly enable the delivery of advanced, revenue-generating new services.

“To meet the growing demand for high-bandwidth applications and content, service providers need a next-generation all-IP multiservice infrastructure that grows with them,” said Vrij.  “Converging both legacy and 3G services over a single flexible, resilient network enables Verizon Wireless the ability to support its growing needs today, and smoothly prepare for its further evolution to 4G LTE.”