Later today in the United States, Marconi Communications will announce its arrival into the US telecoms market - the world's biggest - with orders from major telephone network operator BellSouth for its industry-leading customer access equipment.

The breakthrough will be revealed at the top trade show, SUPERCOMM '99, in Atlanta, as Marconi launches itself as a major new player in North America.

The move follows its acquisition of the Ohio-based RELTEC Corporation - re-branded as Marconi Communications from June 1.

Marconi's US debut is confirmed with orders from the $23 billion BellSouth communications company for 'fibre-to-the-curb' equipment which will provide 200,000 homes in Atlanta and Miami with super-fast access to broadcast video, internet and telephony services.

"This is the largest fibre-to-the-curb initiative in the world and immediately establishes Marconi as a leader in access solutions for the vast American marketplace," said Mike Parton, managing director of Marconi Communications.

"It is a clear demonstration that we have the products which can break the bandwidth bottleneck which is preventing many local subscribers enjoying full access to very high speed communications services."

Marconi is supplying BellSouth with a tailor-made version of its FiberStar equipment, a new multimedia access platform which supercharges the speeds at which communications traffic can travel over the 'last mile' of fibre optic networks. It features a unique optical network unit that takes the full benefits of fibre transmission to within 500 feet of subscribers and uses new techniques to deliver fibre-to-the-home access speeds, even over old-fashioned copper cables.

"With our equipment, operators like BellSouth can provide customers with virtually unlimited bandwidth at an economical cost," Mr Parton said.

FiberStar is one of a host of new transmission and access products being launched by Marconi at SUPERCOMM '99 - including the company's SmartPhotonix family of dense wave division multiplexing (DVDM) equipment, billed as the key technology for the next generation of network communications.

Marconi is also showing new ways of increasing speeds over copper cables using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology.

Marconi Communications is a world leader in smart broadband transmission, access equipment and network integration. It has sales to more than 140 countries, a major presence in the United Kingdom, the USA, Italy and South Africa and is wholly owned by GEC, a global manufacturer of intelligent electronic systems.

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Marconi Communications Press Office   0115 906 4687
   

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