Challenge and Requirement

Venezuela is important petroleum exporting country in the world and a leader in economic development in the Caribbean region. Compañia Anónima Nacional Teléfonos (CANTV) is the largest integrated telecommunication service provider in Venezuela and provides fixed communications, mobile communications, data transmission and Internet access services. Sticking to its philosophy of "to improve Venezuelan people's life quality by providing telecommunication solutions that exceed the expectations of subscribers", CANTV has been committed to network modernization to catch up with economic development and growing telecom demand.

For a long time, CANTV had only a traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) based on microwave and SDH transmission, which could hardly satisfy the fast-growing requirements for new services. As the network gradually adopted the IP technology, the traditional network expansion mode would lead CANTV further away from the All-IP network development trend. In addition, the existing network of CANTV had a lot of analog and digital switches online in a large variety of models, for which many vendors had already ceased technical support and supply of spare parts. Thus, the maintenance of these switches had brought huge pressures and high operation expenditures (OpEx) to CANTV.

To extricate itself from this situation, CANTV had to fulfill three goals. First, All-IP transformation, which would help CANTV shy away from the old track of traditional network technologies. Second, network expansion on a large scale, improvement of service capabilities, and deployment of high value-added services such as IPTV, high-speed Internet (HIS) and video meeting (VM) to attract potential customers. Third, applications of new schemes and new technologies, which would enhance reliability, satisfy service requirements of customers, and reduce operation and maintenance expenses.

"Golden Combination" – CX + MSAN

After careful researches and investigations, CANTV determined its network transformation direction, which was to migrate from the traditional analog network to the next generation network (NGN) and hence provide subscribers with high-quality telecommunication services. The project adopted Huawei U-SYS NGN solution, which was composed of the soft-switch (SS), media gateway (MG), multi-services access node (MSAN), and the bearer part for uploaded services.

As the MSAN equipment on a unified access platform, the HONET UA5000 (UA5000) can access various broadband and narrowband services. For the uploaded service bearer part, CANTV specially placed the requirements for high performance-to-price ratio, multi-service carrying, high reliability, and flexible service deployment. CANTV required that the bearer equipment should closely work with the UA5000 and enable seamless connections. Therefore, the access service bearer equipment adopted should meet three requirements. First, the equipment must comply with the All-IP network development trend. Second, it should be able to bear various access services uploaded by the UA5000. Third, it should fully exert the potentiality of the UA5000.

Based on these considerations, CANTV abandoned the old SDH-based scheme and selected the more competitive metro services platform (MSP) Quidway CX series of products (CX). The CX and the UA5000, which formed "Golden Combination", surpassed the traditional transmission network access solution by bearing the access services of the UA5000 with a resilient packet ring (RPR) that has high reliability and flexible bandwidth configurations. 

• Being an integrated telecommunication service provider, CANTV has complicated access service requirements. The "Golden Combination" supports a rich variety of services and fully exerts the access performance of the network. It can smoothly adapt broadband and narrowband services to the IP network and can work with the core service network, hence bringing rich service experiences to end users. 
  
  
• As terminal subscribers are sensitive to the stability of connections, CANTV has rigorous requirements on network reliability. Through the RPR networking, the "Gold Combination" can achieve flexible bandwidth allocation and fault protection within less than 50 ms, while ensuring easy configuration and no interference for high-layer protocols. The requirement of CANTV for high reliability can be fully satisfied. 
  
  
• CANTV has been troubled by insufficient equipment room space, while equipment room reconstructions would cost hugely. Designed with a compact 300 mm depth and low power consumption, the CX can share the same cabinet with the UA5000. This can save the equipment room space and create more opportunities in asset appreciation and asset reuse for CANTV.

As an inseparable part in Huawei U-SYS NGN solution, the "Gold Combination" has played a significant role in the solution. The CX has greatly improved and optimized the maintainability and manageability for CANTV and won high reorganization from CANTV. The Cuji-Tamaca project, a typical application of the "Gold Combination", sets an example as a new telecom construction mode in Venezuela and offers terminal subscribers with new experiences of innovative services, which include IPTV, HSI and VM.

Miguel Benatuil, General Manager of Technologies and Operations of CANTV, made the following comment: "This project is a quantum leap in our ability to provide telecom services to our customers. Huawei's cost-effective solutions and commitment to our vision were the critical factors in selecting Huawei for the transformation of our PSTN platform. Our expectations are also very high and we believe Huawei is going to exceed them, incrementing the value that we are adding to our business with this project."

Customer Benefits

Since the project was launched, CANTV has witnessed a high growth in its subscriber base, represented by 9.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) (2 years) in fixed lines, 59.7% CAGR (2 years) in mobile subscribers and 62.8% CAGR (2 years) in broadband subscribers. In 2006, CANTV reported revenues of more than US$3 billion. By March 2007, CANTV had occupied more than 90% of the fixed network market in Venezuela, with nearly 3.6 million fixed telephone lines, nearly 8.2 million mobile subscribers, and nearly 528,000 broadband subscribers.

By building a unified IP access platform and using highly reliable RPR networking, the "Gold Combination" enabled compact design and fast engineering delivery based on the customer requirements, saving a lot of capital expenditure (CapEx) and OpEx for CANTV. Tang Xinbing, deputy chief of the network product line of Huawei, said, "Huawei has been focusing on the requirements of CANTV and provides the innovative CX+ UA5000 access solution and services. This solution can decrease the total cost of ownership (TCO) of CANTV, and hence facilitate CANTV in fulfilling its business target. It also brings CANTV with long-term values and potential growth."