UK’s electricity backbone provider National Grid has awarded Cable&Wireless Worldwide a 15 year, €245 million (£207 million) contract to design, deliver and manage an NGN to support National Grid’s core network and operational systems.
The competitive tender was awarded in two separate contracts; a 15-year, €128 millon contract for provision and operation of the optical fibre network and a 5-year, €117 million dedicated manages services contract for the overall operational telecommunications infrastructure.
National Grid CIO David Lister, said “our Operational Telecommunications Network provides mission critical services, so it’s absolutely vital that we picked the right strategic supplier that could support us in the transmission of electricity in the UK. Cable&Wireless offered us all the assurances we need in terms of customer service, resilience and security for us to continue to provide the highest standards of service to our customers.”
The new dedicated OpTel NGN design future proofs the network for seamless migration of technology evolutions and service requirements enabling National Grid to move forward at a rate of change that meets its business needs.
