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