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August 2 2004

The Royal Moroccan gendarme has ordered a new and modern telephone and data communication network worth US$ 1.6 million. The communication network is said to be adapted to high security demands and is to be installed with immediate effect.

The Canada-based company SR Telecom today announced it had been selected to supply what it calls a "security project in Morocco." Morocco's national defence forces, the "Gendarmerie Royale", are to install the company's SR500 advanced communication system.

According to the Canadian company, it had received orders valued at over US$ 1.6 million from the Moroccan gendarme. The gendarme has ordered the purchase and installation of a new "fixed wireless access system for a private voice and data network project."

- Deliveries are scheduled to commence immediately, SR Telecom announced. The Canadian company is now to start setting up of the advanced communication system throughout the country.

The network is to be centred in the capital city of Rabat and "will transport internal voice and data traffic for the Gendarmerie Royale." The network further is to connect over 42 stations throughout Morocco.

SR Telecom also said the company was to "provide certain services, including field surveys, network design, installation, training and project management." Further, the company's delivery to Morocco had been adapted to the high security needs in the increasingly instable Kingdom.

- Gendarmerie Royale required a dependable and secure solution to transport highly sensitive voice and data traffic and they have found precisely that in the SR500, SR Telecom's President Pierre St-Arnaud said in a press statement today. "This underscores the inherent security of our air-link and the reliability of our wireless products," added Mr St-Arnaud.

Morocco is a relatively big spender on military and security issues. Military expenditure reached US$ 2.3 billion last year, representing 4.8 percent of the impoverished Kingdom's total GDP.