Lucent plans network in Ireland
Lucent signs a deal worth $108 million with Ocean to provide a nationwide network for businesses and residential consumers in Ireland.
Under the terms of the agreement, Lucent will deploy a nationwide network based on a high-speed data and optical transmission solution that will provide Ocean's customers data-intensive and voice applications. The network will link Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford.
Ocean will offer business customers a full range of services such as leased lines, ATM, business voice, and in early 1999, managed IP services. Under the agreement with Lucent, the American company will be Ocean's primary solutions partner, serving as systems integrator on the project, working closely with Ocean to provide end-to-end project management support and implementation on network design and planning.
A team of 30 employees from Lucent has been working with Ocean since July 1998, providing technical support, new service definition, and marketing.
"This is a significant collaboration for Lucent," Eric van Amerongen, president and chief executive of Lucent's Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, said in a statement. "We're very pleased to be working with this very important new operator in Ireland, one of Europe's fastest growing economies."
Lucent will establish final assembly and testing of its data equipment at its existing manufacturing facility in Bray. The facility also will serve Lucent's customers throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
This deal comes on the heels of Lucent's global buying spree in which the firm purchased nearly a half-dozen small companies in less than a year. In July, Lucent acquired switch technology maker LanNet for $115 million in cash, SDX Business Systems for about $200 million in cash, and Australian telecom equipment maker JNA Telecommunications for $70 million in cash.
Shares of Lucent fell today in early morning trading, slipping 1.37 percent to 85.31. The stock has traded as high as 108.5 and as low as 36.19 during the past 52 weeks.