Gsm+umts Coverage In Turin Underground

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GSM Coverage Improved for Winter Olympics

In advance of the rush of tourists and spectators who will attend the XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy next month, Andrew Corporation has completed the first phase of a multi-operator cellular system within the host city's underground that will provide wireless services, including broadband, to commuters. In addition, Andrew recently was awarded a five-year contract by SCNF, France's national railway, for the supply and installation of repeaters in its new, private GSM-R (the European standard for railway communications technology) radio system.

Andrew's involvement will extend essential radio coverage in tunnels and other hard-to-reach locations throughout the French railway's 14,500 kilometer network so to guarantee service continuity and reliability for train operators.

"Andrew's expertise and technological leadership in providing world-class wireless coverage and capacity solutions for hard-to-reach areas such as tunnels and underground systems is recognized around the world," said Andrea Casini, vice president of Europe, Middle East, Africa sales, Andrew Corporation. "We are proud to support such noteworthy projects as these in Italy and France, which help our customers to provide a higher level of service for thousands of their subscribers and professional users every single day."

The Turin project is the second such multi-operator system installed in Italy, following the 2005 multi-operator system in the Gran San Bernardo Tunnel between Italy and Switzerland for which Andrew also served as supplier, installer, and project manager. In Turin, the Andrew system will provide service to customers of the Italian mobile operators.

The two-phased project includes EGSM900, GSM1800 and UMTS coverage for commuters at any of the underground's 16 stations and on trains traveling up to 80 kilometers per hour anywhere between. The first phase, completed last month, covers the underground locations that will be used most heavily by visitors to the Olympic Games. Completion of the second and final phase is expected in the summer. The Andrew ION-M systems being deployed include tri-band GSM/UMTS remote units and antennas for the stations and tunnels. Andrew is responsible for management of the entire project, including site survey, coordination among the four operators, installation, testing, and commissioning.