Alcatel-Lucent secures three-year deal to manage entire e-Ghana project

Paris-based telecoms company Alcatel-Lucent has signed an agreement with Ghana’s National Information Technology Agency (NITA) to manage the country’s e-government project for three years starting November 2012, the company announced September 28, 2012.

Alcatel-Lucent says it will run the entire e-project on behalf of NITA and is expected to expand the services to rural Ghana to help boost communication links between central and regional administration offices of government.

Under the agreement with NITA, according to Alcatel-Lucent, it “will also manage network operations of Ghana’s entire ‘e-government’ programme for three years commencing November 2012.”

The company said it will also design and implement a 600km fibre-optic ‘backbone’ network that will provide high-speed data links between central government functions and remote and rural locations.

The new network, which will link Ghana’s north and south as well as international submarine gateways via its eastern corridor, will use Alcatel-Lucent’s 100 gigabit per second (100G)-capable optical coherent technology.

Alcatel-Lucent explained that the advanced fibre-optic technology will enhance business efficiencies between central and regional government offices and maintain quality and reliability across telephone, email and other Internet-based e-services.

The network being installed in Ghana, according to Alcatel-Lucent, will apply the 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS). The 1830 PSS offers exceptional capacity, performance, agility and intelligence for the transport of very large amounts of data over long distances and can support a mixture of 10G, 40G and 100G channels on the same fiber pair, helping ensure support for future needs as demand grows.

The e-Ghana project is a national initiative aimed at improving transparency and efficiency in government functions.

By Ekow Quandzie