Alcatel this week announced the first customer of the gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) equipment it unveiled in May.

A spokesman for the equipment vendor emphasized that the Kuwaiti government is the first “announced” customer of Alcatel’s 7342 ISAM GPON platform but could not say whether it was also the first customer to purchase the platform, which Alcatel originally said would be available in the second half of 2005.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Communications will deploy Alcatel’s GPON platform in 33 areas through 2007, where it will serve about 50,000 residential “plots,” Alcatel said. Though voice is a high priority in the first phase what the MOC calls its “Mega Light Project,” the ministry sees demand for video service to be initially nonexistent but increasing over time.

The MOC expects the project, which began a year ago with the deployment of Ethernet-based PON equipment, to ultimately connect up to 100,000 total “plots” within 10 years, including commercial and government locations. The MOC expects to use Alcatel’s GPON gear for 60% of the rollout.