Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. (“América Móvil”) (NYSE: AMX)(Nasdaq: AMOV) are actively constructing América Móvil 1 (“AMX-1 System”), which will be the world’s first 17,500km submarine cable system specifically designed for 100Gigabit per second (100G) transmission. Spanning over transoceanic distances, from the US to Central America and Brazil, the AMX-1 System will enable América Móvil to provide international connectivity to all its subsidiaries, leading towards a new era of service creation and innovation for all its customers.
The AMX-1 System will connect seven countries with eleven landing points: Miami and Jacksonville (United States), Barranquilla and Cartagena (Colombia), Fortaleza, Salvador & Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic), Cancun (Mexico), San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Puerto Barrios (Guatemala). Cable route and landing surveys are complete and manufacturing of cable and repeaters is well underway. Commercial operation of the network comprising the AMX-1 System is planned to start in late 2013.
The AMX-1 System design is optimized for 100G transmission, with an ultimate trunk capacity of over 50 Tb/s, which will underpin the continued growth of new applications such as corporate cloud services and delivery of premium services to América Móvil’s 256 million wireless subscribers and 62 million fixed lines, as well as enhancing its existing fixed voice, broadband and pay T.V. services.
América Móvil stated that the deployment of the 100G AMX-1 System will help them to increase their return on investment by maximizing the use of cable assets and minimizing the maintenance costs. Alcatel-Lucent’s unique combination of innovation and experience will enable América Móvil to achieve the highest standards of resilience and service reliability for their customers.
Alcatel-Lucent first demonstrated 100G transmission over transoceanic distances in 2009 achieving record breaking results. Alcatel-Lucent will deliver the project including operation and maintenance of the AMX-1 System. The AMX-1 System will integrate Alcatel-Lucent OALC-4 cable optimized with coherent submarine fiber (CSF), repeaters, branching units and the 1620 Light Manager (LM) submarine line terminal equipped with Advanced Coherent technology and offering unique Optical Add and Drop (OADM) flexibility to increase AMX-1 System’s direct connectivity to countries in the Americas. Also, the Alcatel-Lucent 1620 LM is designed to accommodate 10G/40G/100G wavelengths in the same platform, enabling seamless capacity upgrade on flexible grid for channel spacing without traffic interruption.
Maintenance will be performed under Alcatel-Lucent’s Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement (APMA) which currently maintains over 100,000 km of critical submarine cable infrastructure in the Atlantic Ocean. As part of the services offered, Alcatel-Lucent will also launch an enhanced cable awareness program to ensure collaboration of maritime and port authorities, fishing bodies and other seabed users in protecting the cable.
This project further strengthens the Alcatel-Lucent relationship with América Móvil, which builds upon other transport and network transformation projects. The wireless service provider is undertaking in Latin America to launch next-generation IP-based services and to increase its presence in business segments such as wholesale, content delivery and other growth areas.
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