Press Releases

FREMONT, Calif., January 15, 2008 - Actelis Networks®, the leading global supplier of Carrier Ethernet over Copper™ solutions, today announced it will supply carrier Ethernet over copper access equipment to Tele2 AB (“Tele2”) (Stockholm Stock Exchange: TEL2 A and TEL2 B), Europe’s leading alternative telecom operator, to deliver new business-grade broadband services over its existing copper network to a growing base of business customers. Actelis will supply Tele2 with its ML600 Ethernet Access Devices (EADs) series and ML2300 central office aggregation switching units. This solution enables the Stockholm-based service provider to deliver advanced data, high-speed DSL and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services to business customers throughout its Nordic markets.

With Actelis’ Carrier Ethernet over Copper solution, Tele2 can cost-effectively leverage its existing copper infrastructure, significantly extending the reach of their Ethernet broadband service offering. This puts Tele2 in a great position to continue to meet the market demand for highly reliable, high-performance Ethernet-based broadband services.
           
“We are pleased to announce Tele2’s selection of Actelis Networks to deliver business-class symmetrical broadband services to small and medium-size businesses with, what we believe, more competitive pricing then is offered by the incumbent providers of legacy E1 services,” said Yaron Altit, vice president of European sales at Actelis. “We believe our carrier Ethernet over copper solution will enable Tele2 to quickly and cost-effectively deliver superior voice and high-speed data services to their valued customers.”

Powered by Actelis’ award-winning EFMplus™ technology, the company’s Ethernet access equipment provides a significant boost to the bandwidth capacity of Tele2’s service offering. Actelis’ ML600 EADs deliver up to 45 Mbps of symmetrical Ethernet bandwidth at fiber quality over existing copper pairs. Available in a number of configurations, supporting from one to eight individual copper pairs, the ML600 EADs can be deployed in a point-to-point configuration or as customer premises equipment in a point-to-multipoint configuration with Actelis’ ML2300 Ethernet aggregation switch.

Located in the central office, the Actelis ML2300 Ethernet aggregation switch connects multiple Actelis ML600 EADs, seamlessly integrating the copper access network with the rich broadband services available to Tele2’s business customers over their optical Metro Ethernet network. Each ML600 EAD is connected to an ML2300 via a high-speed link. A number of ML2300 aggregation switches can be networked together in a variety of network topologies to support a number of deployment requirements necessary to reach their business subscribers. Actelis’ copper-bonding technology is the innovation that enables Tele2 to deliver a fiber-like connection to its business customers who have no access to Tele2’s fiber network.

“The financial benefit of being able to deploy carrier Ethernet over existing copper plant is especially attractive now that the global credit crunch is starting to stall the funding of ambitious fiber rollout plans throughout Europe,” added Altit. “We expect more telecom operators to start taking a serious look at the huge potential for Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) over copper access going forward.”

Worldwide revenue from bonded-copper portion of EADs will nearly double from 2006 to 2007, fueled by the rapid growth of Ethernet services, according to a recent report from Infonetics Research. Worldwide sales of all EAD equipment are forecast to more than quadruple between 2006 and 2010, when they will reach over $900 million.

“Ethernet is less expensive than other technologies and demand for business Ethernet connections is skyrocketing, forcing service providers to upgrade their networks with various types of EADs,” commented Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder at Infonetics Research. In 2007, the EMEA region will account for 36% of all EAD equipment revenue.”