Alcatel-Lucent to part ways with Nucleus Connect

Alcatel-Lucent has denied suggestions that alleged issues with a contract to supply operations and business support software to Singapore NBN operating company cast any doubt on its ability to deliver on contracts with Australia's NBN Co.

The Australian newspaper reported yesterday that the vendor was about to part ways with Nucleus Connect – responsible for the active portion of Singapore's NBN project - allegedly because Alcatel-Lucent didn't deliver operations and business software support systems to schedule.

But an Alcatel-Lucent spokesman claimed to have "completed the first phase of the project to provide Nucleus Connect with the OSS/BSS layer".

"As part of the on-going evolution of the OSS/BSS, Nucleus Connect will make a selection of vendors to continue with the next phase," the spokesman said.

He declined to supply further comments on the reported issues, citing confidentiality and company policy not to comment "on rumour or speculation."

A source close to the project later confirmed the split to iTnews.

It was understood that changes in the scope of the OSS/BSS project during rollout may have contributed to the relationship breakdown; however, this could not be confirmed.

In addition, it was unclear whether Alcatel-Lucent would be subject to any financial penalties over its exit from the project, as had been reported by The Australian.

But Alcatel-Lucent was certain it could deliver on contracts and projects of a similar stature to Singapore - such as Australia's NBN.

The vendor's spokesman told iTnews that Alcatel was "100 percent focused on delivering to the high expectations of our customers, including NBN Co".

"The feedback we are getting is that we are doing just that," he said.

"Nothing will distract us from the work we are doing here in Australia nor from the big picture opportunities these network deployments offer for the digital economy."

Nucleus Connect is the OpCo for Singapore's next generation NBN project, selling services running on NetCo OpenNet's wholesale dark fibre network to retail service providers.