Alcatel (Paris:CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it has been selected by Telekom Malaysia (TM) as the prime supplier of Celcom Berhad, a wholly-owned company of TM and Malaysia’s premier mobile communications provider, for its 3G/UMTS wireless network. This contract, valued at Euro 70 million, reinforces Alcatel’s position as CELCOM’s leading partner for advanced network solutions.

Upon completion of the project, Celcom will be able to offer customers across the Malaysian peninsula, as well as Sabah and Sarawak islands, a whole array of innovative high-bandwidth services for multimedia mobile communications such as live streaming mobile TV channels.

Under the agreement, Alcatel delivers 3G/UMTS radio access network infrastructure and high-performance digital microwave links to carry the traffic of enhanced mobile data services, enabling Celcom to complete the next phase of its national 3G deployment program.

Based on the EvoliumВ® platform, Alcatel’s broadband wireless access solutions will offer Celcom high throughput on the move, low latency, end-to-end QoS, affordability, efficient backhauling and maximum site reuse. Thanks to its built-in software modularity, the Alcatel EvoliumВ® radio access solution will allow a simplified software activation of HSDPA, through reuse the Alcatel hardware equipment already deployed in Celcom’s 3G/UMTS network.

“Celcom joins CamGSM (Cambodia) as the second Asia Pacific service provider, in less than three months, to select Alcatel for implementation of its 3G/UMTS network,” said FrГ©dГ©ric Rose, President of Alcatel Asia Pacific. “Celcom and CamGSM represent a growing number of Asia Pacific service providers in High Growth Economies that are evolving towards 3G and looking to Alcatel for an efficient software-upgradeable solution.”

Leveraging its natively multi-standard design, the Alcatel EvoliumВ® multi-standard radio access solution enables the seamless coexistence of GSM/EDGE and 3G capabilities in the same radio equipment. Furthermore, thanks to its built-in software modularity, the solution will subsequently allow a smooth software-based introduction of HSDPA and HSUPA when the local market requires these functionalities, thus enabling a future-safe and cost-effective path for the operator.

The Alcatel 9400 AWY family is a new generation of digital PDH, low and medium capacity, point-to-point microwave links, which is part of one of the most comprehensive and competitive mobile network backhauling solution of the market. With multiple interfaces – PDH, SDH and Ethernet – the Alcatel solution enables a future-safe and cost-effective path for the operator.

Also selected are the Alcatel 7670 Edge Services Extender (ESE) and 5620 Network Manager (NM) which will provide high density aggregation and switching of 3G ATM circuits for the EvoliumВ® radio access solution to also further reduce cost.

Telekom Malaysia has launched a short voice messaging service from fixed line phones

Launched under the brand name “MyVoice”, the new Telekom Malaysia service permits fixed line users to record and send short voice messages to any phone user, fixed or mobile. By dialing a 4-digit short-code (1555#), users can record a message up to twenty seconds longwhich can be sent to either fixed line phones or mobiles. Background music, sound effects and other greetings can be added. The receiver can also reply to the message by pressing the “#” button on their phone.

The system has been developed by TM Applied Business (TAB) of Kuala Lumpur combined with TelcoBridges’ TB640 System-Bladeв„ў, IVR and StreamServerв„ў technologies with TAB’s Virtual Communication Services (VCS) application solution.

“The service has been very well accepted by large organizations, the public sector and the visually-impaired, all of whom find it very fast and easy to send short voice messages to single or multiple numbers”, said Abdul Malek Aziz, TAB’s Head of Marketing. TAB is now marketing system globally.

TAB is using the TelcoBridges’ technology to develop a voice messaging on-line portal offering the broadcasting of voice messages to phone users via the Internet to be launched in April.

“Consumers in Asia are very open to innovative voice services” said Gaetan Campeau, President, Founder and Executive Vice-President, Worldwide Sales, TelcoBridges Inc.