Pierre-Alain Cadillon

'This growth is across our three main business areas: fixed line; mobile; and private communications,' says Pierre-Alain Cadillon, Alcatel, Senior Country Officer for the UAE, Oman, Qatar & Kuwait.

'We work under the slogan 'broaden your life' which sums up the importance of broadband technology in all that we do.'

Mr. Cadillon agrees that the deregulation of the Middle East telecommunications industry is a driver behind this rush to adopt new technology, and is very happy to see so many new customers emerging in the sector.

'We see this in the UAE, for example, with a new competitor to Etisalat in prospect, and the challenge for any new operator is to provide value added services. We all want to offer the best user experience so this is also very good for the consumer too.'

Triple-Play at Gitex

Alcatel was demonstrating its impressive Triple-Play system at the Gitex computer show which handles video, voice and data through one cable.

This is one of the most advanced systems of its kind, albeit with an uncomplicated set-top box, and has the facility for video-on-demand services, and a hard-disc drive that continually records whatever you are watching in case you should want to pause in a programme; there is also a rapid channel selection feature and in-screen viewing of another channel.

'This is typical of our approach,' says Mr. Cadillon. 'What you get is a better viewer experience, and part of our reason for being at Gitex is to raise customer awareness about what we can offer, and stimulate a bit of consumer demand.'

'Alcatel is one of the few end-to-end telecommunications companies in the world and the solutions that we offer range from undersea cables to carry broadband traffic to voice-mail for mobile phones. In this region we have also been scoring with private telecommunication systems for non-telecom companies.

'For example, we have won two key contracts on the Dubai Metro: a telecom and CCTV package; and the transportation solution for the signaling of vehicles. We also have a similar telecom and CCTV package on the Terminal 3 project at Dubai International Airport.'

This is why Cairo headquartered Alcatel now employs 1,200 staff in the Middle East, of which 850 are engineers, across 15 countries and has offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

'With broadband expanding at such a rate I don't see us slowing down much for the next several years,' says Mr. Cadillon.