Alcatel contracts boost Asian-Pacific networks

NEWS Alcatel's presence in Asia Pacific is to expand after winning two large contracts in Taipei and China. Alcatel's CGA Transport division was awarded the $10m contract to supply Taipei's public transport network with a smartcard system that acts as an electronic purse and replaces traditional paper-based tickets. The company will install contactless validators in 4,000 buses to download ticket data to 85 depot controllers. The existing control gates on six Metro lines will be upgraded to recognise the smartcard tickets. In addition 150 points of sales will be installed in 64 stations and 130 self-service machines to enable travellers to check remaining credit on the smartcard, as well as transaction history. Meanwhile in China, the company has been chosen by Unicom to develop a fibre-optic network to boost the capacity of the nationwide network backbone. Alcatel's $17m contract also covers the construction of a larger network for the eastern province of Jiangsu to increase Internet and voice traffic.