OREANDA-NEWS. September 11, 2012. SSE Telecommunications Ltd (SSE Telecoms, a wholly owned subsidiary of SSE Plc) has been awarded a 10 year, Ј30 million contract to provide 6500km of fibre network to over 30 UK sites connected to the ‘Janet’ network infrastructure used by the UK’s research and education community.

The contract is SSE Telecoms’ largest network management partnership and underlines its position as a significant player in this competitive market. The contract will support the development of the next generation fibre network for Janet – Janet6 – and will ensure the critical infrastructure is flexible, sustainable, resilient and able to deliver the high capacity requirements of the future.

The Janet network provides a world-class network infrastructure to meet the needs of the research and education community across the UK. The Janet backbone consists of a dedicated optical fibre, which can run at up to 400Gbit/s and serves a community of 18 million users.

Mark Mathieson, SSE’s Managing Director, Networks, said:

"SSE Telecoms was able to provide the flexibility and responsiveness that were essential for supporting Janet as it evolves its communication infrastructure to meet the education community’s future demands. This contract clearly demonstrates the strength and depth of SSE’s telecoms business.

"The two companies share similar values and culture, and SSE Telecoms is looking forward to using this contract to break new ground in the telecommunications arena.”

Jeremy Sharp, Head of Strategic Technologies at Janet, said:

"The Janet6 project will ensure that the UK stays at the forefront of research and education networking globally. The fibre infrastructure that underpins Janet6 is the foundation upon which the network is built and we are pleased to be working with SSE Telecoms whose excellent track record in the provision of reliable, state-of-the-art fibre infrastructure will provide this solid foundation for years to come.”