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Apr. 10, 2007

Various reports say that Alcatel has won a contract to deploy UMTS/HSPA equipment, beginning in Sep. 2007 for the SFR network in France, becoming the second largest 3G supplier for Alcatel.

Overall, SFR and Alcatel also will form a strategic technology partnership, allowing SFR VIP access to the Alcatel 3G competence center based in France.

As it stands now, SFR was the first operator in France to offer 3G services. Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will supply its entire UMTS product portfolio.

Olivier Picard, president of Alcatel-Lucent Europe said "this contract reinforces the leading worldwide position of Alcatel in mobile broadband, enabled by the acquisition of the 3G/UMTS activities from Nortel. SFR proves its confidence in our technological know-how, in our innovation capability and in our teams."

As one of the largest sponsors of the America's Cup, Alcatel also announced that it will offer a subscription-based online virtual fan site.

Dubbed Second Life, the service will offer access to live coverage of the races on Internet television, through mobile phones or by online 3-D animation.

Subscribers also can create avatars and watch the races from lavish, virtual VIP environments.

This appears to be today's trend in tech-savvy sponsorships. IBM organized animated live-action tennis for the Australian Open four months ago, creating a virtual version of the Melbourne Tennis Center and using real-time ball-tracking data from the games.

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Source: Wireless Week