RTE, the French public power transmission network operator, will deploy an additional several-thousand-kilometer fiber-optic network on its high-voltage transmission grid. Alcatel-Lucent will provide the project management, engineering, supply, network installation and commissioning, as well as maintenance for the majority of the network.

This turnkey fiber-optic network, code-named ROSE 7 (Réseau Optique de SEcurité, or Optical Security Network), is the continuation of a project that began in 2004 with a 500-km pilot project in Brittany, which has grown to more than 5000 km today. It will enable RTE to secure its electrical transmission network with reliable, fast communications links and resell excess fiber-optic capacity to telecom operators and local authorities through its subsidiary @rteria.

”Alcatel-Lucent quickly got into the mindset that project management requires; all project constraints had to be addressed, and most particularly - in the case of RTE - the operational constraints of a very high-voltage electricity network. Alcatel-Lucent had to be willing to redeploy its resources, adjust its schedules, and change the project execution at any moment, depending on our constraints,” said Luc Desmoulins, RTE purchasing director.