STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- (Marketwire) -- 12/18/08 --
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has signed a contract with Nigerian telecomcompany 21st Century Technologies to supply, build and systemsintegrate a nationwide residential fiber-optic broadband network. Thecontract includes the latest GPON Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) technologyand will enable advanced high-speed broadband services.

The project represents a major breakthrough in the West Africanregion, a market largely dominated by mobile communications. TheFiber-To-The-Home network will provide high-quality broadbandconnectivity and support services such as IPTV, high-speed internetaccess, and voice-over-IP. Deployment to the first 10,000 homes willstart in January, 2009.

Wale Ajisebutu, Managing Director of 21st Century Technologies, says:"We are delighted to work with Ericsson to deploy and integrate oneof the world's most sophisticated network architectures for fiberoptics. With the combination of Ericsson's GPON (Gigabit-capablePassive Optical Network) and IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem)technology, we can deliver an enriched multimedia experience to ourcustomers."

Jan Embro, Head of sub-Saharan Africa at Ericsson, says: "Thiscontract reflects Ericsson's strong position in Nigeria, builds onour partnership with 21st Century Technologies and highlights ourcapabilities in multimedia services. It is the first project of itskind in the West African region and will be the forerunner of relatedservices not only in the region, but in Africa as a whole."

Under the agreement Ericsson will provide an end-to-end Deep-FiberAccess network with EDA 1500 for GPON access and fiber cables,including Ribbonet and Micronet air-blown fiber systems. The contractalso includes Redback SmartEdge 1200 routers and Ericsson's IMSsolution for the core network, enabling seamless access to a widerange of multimedia services. Ericsson will also be responsible fornetwork design, deployment and systems integration services.

Ericsson's Deep-Fiber Access network solution is a key enabler fordeploying new broadband services and is part of Ericsson's FullService Broadband offering. Ericsson has delivered EDA broadbandaccess nodes to more than 100 customers worldwide. Ericsson is themarket leader in IMS with more than 60 commercial contracts, of whichmore than half carry live traffic. 

http://www.ibtimes.com/prnews/20081218/ericsson-to-build-residential-fiber-optic-network-for-21st-century-technologies-in-nigeria.htm

If anyone has more info about this, please let me know.