Lucent Technologies (www.lucent.com) has been selected by Telefônica in Brazil to expand its Remote Access Server (RAS) network in the state of São Paulo.

Under the agreement, Lucent will deliver 28,000 new dial-up access ports, which will allow Telefônica to expand its subscriber base by 15 percent. Lucent Worldwide Services is providing installation services for the deployment, which is already under way.

Telefonica selected Lucent APX Universal Gateway family for the expansion due to the platform's multiple capabilities, including port wholesaling, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and dial-up IP access from the same platform without a need for separate modem hardware.

This new contract is an extension of Lucent and Telefônica's existing relationship, which began six years ago when the operator first deployed Lucent's APX platform for the its RAS network.

"The new dial-up access ports represent between 140,000 to 180,000 new subscribers to address the growing demand for Internet access," explain Wagner Ferreira, the president of Lucent Technologies in Brazil.