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Background
COPACO S.A., the Compañía Paraguaya de
Comunicaciones S.A., was established on November 15, 2001, and began
operations on December 2 of that year. It resulted from the
reorganization of the National Telecommunication Administration (ANTELCO),
for the purposes established in Law 1615/00, “Reorganization of
Decentralized Public Entities and Reform and Modernization of Central
Government Agencies.”
Like all telecommunication companies of the region,
COPACO must follow the technological evolutionary curve and meet
market needs – in both basic telephony and
access technologies for
broadband.
Objective
In 2005, COPACO launched a new service: to offer
bandwidth, initially of 155 Mbps, based on a secure and scalable IP
platform, edge network (international network) or part of the backbone,
with the leading technology on the Paraguayan market and of the
region’s countries, with the aim of offering a Next
Generation Network (NGN)
for data to
the country as a whole over a single packet-switched transport network
providing good quality and different bandwidths for a wide range of
services.
Present Market
COPACO now
offers the service, via fiber optics, to the country’s ISPs; to
corporate clients; and to some governmental entities. Only six months
from project implementation, bandwidth use reached its limits, so that,
just days from now, bandwidth of 155 Mbps and 34 Mbps capacities with
different international connection routes will be leased.
The Paraguayan market is now seeking bandwidth at
different points around the country for its numerous activities and
COPACO is targeting NGNs with a view to securing scalability and
flexibility in their design over time. Still pending is the second
part of the NATIONAL DATA NETWORK with its NGN Synchronous Digital
Hierarchy (SDH) system and LAST MILE ADSL 2+, which will come into
operation in 2006. This will revolutionize the communications area in
Paraguay.
Technologies to be
implemented
The NGN INTERNATIONAL data network was
designed based on the Internet Protocol (IP) and Multiprotocol Label
Switching (MPLS) architecture, a standard Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) label switching solution, independent of the different
architectures and manufacturers of convergent data network solutions,
which combines the advantages of the speed of ATM switching with the
capacity of routing algorithms developed in the IP world environment,
adding quality of service. Therefore, it is an optimal solution for
adequate telecommunication network operation.
In MPLS label switching on broadband networks, the
label is a number or identification that a router or piece of intake
equipment assigns to a data packet of any technology (TCP/IP, Frame
Relay, ATM) entering its domain to streamline and facilitate its
transport through the network, overcoming the latency and jitter
generated by each of these technologies with its own data.
MPLS combines the multi-service and traffic
management capabilities of ATM with the scalability of packet networks
to create a best-of-breed service provider network. Key reasons for
MPLS deployment include:
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Cost reduction through data network
convergence: MPLS facilitates the convergence of disparate Frame Relay,
ATM, Ethernet, and IP networks onto a single infrastructure to reduce
capital and operating expenses.
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Integration of voice, video, and
data services: MPLS’ traffic management capabilities enable this
services "triple play" on a common backbone.
New high-margin revenue
opportunities through MPLS-based service offerings: MPLS's flexibility,
high availability and multi-service support enables service providers
to offer strict SLAs, increasing revenue and margins.
Broadband and technology are unquestionably
among the key elements of development in Paraguay and in Latin America,
as there is a direct correlation between technology and increased
productivity and, so too, with quality of life.
Ms. Josefina Cano
Chief, Transmission Projects Division
COPACO – PARAGUAY
e-mail: jcanoag@copaco.com.py
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Technology
