Alcatel-Lucent unveiled its first CDMA network targeted at government deployments and announced its first government contract today. Alcatel-Lucent is building a CDMA network on the 700 MHz band for the District of Columbia, which will use the new broadband network for public-safety data communications.

The deployment will go far beyond the District itself, taking in municipal, state and federal jurisdictions in the nation’s capital and in the surrounding metropolitan region, encompassing an overall footprint of 4.2 million residents. The project is part of the National Capital Region Interoperability Program, which was tasked in 2005 to bridge the disconnect between the 19 different public-safety and emergency agencies in the area. The CDMA network will provide a unified data communications network all local and federal agencies can access, while still using their own communications systems.

Alcatel-Lucent’s government arm, LGS, will roll out a CDMA 1X EV-DO Revision A network, supporting broadband downlink and uplink speeds and eventually enable real-time video and multimedia communications.