Lucent wins $25 million Iraqi subcontract

Lucent Technologies announced it has been awarded a $25 million subcontract by Bechtel National to restore service to 240,000 disconnected lines in Baghdad—nearly half of all the lines in the city.

The deal includes the deployment of 13 Lucent 5ESS central office switches, Lucent Metropolis add/drop multiplexers and Navis network management systems as well as installation, deployment, operations and maintenance support from Lucent Worldwide Services.

It is the largest Iraqi communications subcontract Bechtel has announced since it received the main U.S. government contract to rehabilitate Iraq’s postwar infrastructure earlier this year. It is also Lucent’s first Iraqi deployment.

Deployment of the gear will begin next month, according to Lucent. Bechtel estimates as much 80% of the deployment work will be performed by Iraqis. Lucent will also train workers at the Iraqi Telephone and Post Company, Baghdad’s phone service provider, to manage the new equipment.

A Lucent spokspokesman said the company's goal is to have the majority of the deployment completed within six months. The vendor also expects to receive the majority of the $25 million from the contract over that six-month period.