Lucent wins subcontract for Iraqi network repair

Lucent Technologies Inc. has won a $25 million subcontract from Bechtel Corp. to provide emergency repair and rehabilitation services for the communications network in Iraq, the company announced Monday.

Under the contract, Lucent of Murray Hill, N.J., will provide 13 central office switches, advanced optical transport technology and network management systems designed for high-speed data transmissions.

Lucent and Bechtel of San Francisco will work with Iraqi Telephone and Post Co. personnel and local Iraqi contractors to install and deploy the switching units to restore service to 240,000 lines serving Baghdad and the surrounding region that were knocked out during the war.

Eighty percent of the work will be performed by Iraqis, Lucent said.

In addition to rebuilding the network, Lucent will establish an aggressive program to train Iraqi personnel to move network operations to ITPC. The training programs will facilitate critical knowledge transfer to ensure successful implementation and management of the network.

Bechtel was awarded a contract earlier this year to design, rehabilitate, upgrade and reconstruct Iraq's infrastructure, including emergency work on the country's communications system.

Lucent Technologies, a provider of hardware, software and services for telecommunications networks, has more than 47,000 employees and annual sales of $12.3 billion, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.