Alcatel NV has been picked by the Dutch and Belgian PTTs in the last month to provide base stations, controllers and switches for the two countries’ Groupe Speciale Mobile Global System for Mobile communications cellular networks. Alcatel says its Dutch subsidiary, Alcatel Nederland, has received a substantial order from Koninklijke PTT Telecom Nederland NV for the base stations and switches. Its Belgian subsidiary, Bell-SDT, meanwhile won a $47.3m contract for 500 base stations, 87 base station controllers and associated management centres. The order is an extension of a pilot GSM project in the western part of the Netherlands, according to Alcatel. Nokia Oy has also been awarded a contract for some of the base stations. GSM will be operational in the Netherlands in early 1994, Alcatel says. Alcatel says the first base stations will be installed in Belgium in October 1993, with the rest delivered by the end of 1994, at which time the Belgian digital cellular network will cover the entire country.
