Huawei and Belgacom, the Belgian incumbent telecom operator,
have reportedly signed a frame agreement enabling the progressive upgrade of Belgacom’s radio access network.
The objective is to roll out cost-effective, fast mobile data technology nationally, which will provide more than 5 million Belgacom subscribers with a high-speed mobile broadband experience.
The entire radio access network upgrade will encompass GSM, UMTS and LTE air interfaces and Huawei’s SingleRAN solution will provide a simplified, high-capacity, high-performance network.
“By partnering with Huawei for the progressive swap of the current radio network, Belgacom continues to pursue its fixed mobile convergence strategy in a controlled way,” Scott Alcott, executive vice president at Belgacom. “It will allow us to reinforce our mobile leadership in Belgium over the years to come. Several key suppliers were competing for this strategic deal; this fierce competition resulted in attractive financial proposals for the Group as well as aggressive technological roadmaps.”
Bob Emmerson is TMC's European Editor. To stay abreast of the latest news affecting the European market, check out Bob's columnist page.Edited by
Marisa Torrieri