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Ericsson has been established in Iran since 1992. Today, Ericsson has 45employees in Tehran. It's Tehran office is currently considering anInternet link-up with Ericsson Data to Ericsson's Corporate Network(ECN).
In May 1998 Ericsson was awarded its first AXE contract in Iran valued atapproximately US $45 million. The equipment, bought by TCI, is in theprocess of being installed in Tehran.
In addition to AXE, the contract includes training, transfer oftechnology, repair center as well as a support center.
Ericsson cited Iran's large demand for telephony services, and an openingeconomic climate as factors contributing to making Iran a very importantmarket for the company.
Ericsson's AXE provides an open architecture that supports all fixed andwireless telecoms, datacoms and interactive services. AXE is the mostwidely-deployed switching system in the world, supporting well above 120million users of fixed network services in more than 120 countries. Thesystem is also supporting well above 60 million users of wireless networkservices in more than 90 countries worldwide.
Earlier in 1997, Ericsson was the recipient of an order for 51,000 DRXlines from TCI. DRX is a down-scaled version of the MD110 telephoneexchange used for public traffic in several markets.
The order, valued at $5.2 million, expanded Iran's existing 54,000-lineDRX exchange, making Iran one of the largest markets for DRX systems fromEricsson Business Networks.
More than 30 communities throughout Iran were connected by a unifiedtelecom network based on DRX equipment. A large percentage of thematerials was produced in Sweden. The remaining portion was made in Iranby ICI, that has also been contracted for installation and start-up atcustomer sites.
Ericsson is also involved in Iran's mobile communication network,supplying GSM 900 equipment for the Kish Island Free Trade Zone, and thecity of Isfahan (operated by Celcom), in January 1996 and 1995respectively. As of January 1997, the number of people being served byEricsson mobile in Iran stood at 23,500.
Even earlier in 1991, Ericsson received an order for a long-distancefiber-optic communications network from the Iranian Islamic RepublicRailways (RAI). The contract, valued at $21 million, was placed withEricsson's Turkish subsidiary, based in Istanbul.
The network was installed between the cities of Ghazvin and Razi innorthwest Iran, a distance of 860 km. The project included theinstallation of 12-fiber optical cable, seven Ericsson MD110 digitalprivate branch exchanges (PBX's) with 6,500 lines, transmissionequipment, network planning and project supervision.
The network was later expanded to cover the entire Iranian railwaynetwork, with work on the northeastern region railway being finished inSpring 0f 1996, and other regions after this date.