BANGALORE: The network, which covers more sites than any other network in Asia, provides Reliance customers with national and international long distance, wireless access for both voice and data applications, and high-speed Internet access. "Nortel Networks has been a strategic relationship for Reliance Infocomm in our quest to usher a digital revolution in India and herald a new way of life," said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries Limited. "To help us realize our vision of affordable, high-quality communication for the Indian population, we needed a partner with proven expertise and experience in wireless, optical, voice and data networks." "Nortel Networks provided not only proven expertise, but also brought vast experience in the rapid deployment of large, complex, carrier-grade networks around the world and its long-term commitment to this country," Ambani said. "Today, we are witnessing this global expertise translate into reality in the Indian landscape." One of India’s newest carriers, Reliance was awarded 18 telecom licenses, with approval to operate national and international long distance services. Its network, which will provide India’s business community with an unprecedented level of communications reliability, has an optical backbone that is over 60,000 kilometers long, connecting cities, towns and villages across India. It is the country’s first high-capacity, 10-gigabit DWDM network with the capability to scale to terabits of bandwidth. It is based on Nortel Networks leading SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) and DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) optical technologies. In addition, Reliance chose Nortel Networks Local Area Network (LAN) solutions for its Webworld retail channel as part of its innovative plan to enable broadband services such as video conferencing to the citizenry. Reliance also chose a range of Nortel Networks enterprise products, including a call center suite of solutions for back-office use. "Reliance’s vision, drive and proven project execution capabilities, combined with Nortel Networks technology and implementation expertise, have allowed us to deliver in six months a world-class network which normally takes 18-24 months to build," said Frank Dunn, president and chief executive officer, Nortel Networks. "We are very pleased to have worked with Reliance for this seminal event in telecommunications for India. This network will create new opportunities for the people of India, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Reliance to expand and enhance the services that will be offered."