PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) announced today that it has finalized an agreement to buy MNC, the leading mobile application service provider (mobile ASP) in Switzerland. Alcatel's turnkey approach, powered by MNC, will allow operators to build rich multimedia service offerings (such as content delivery through MMS, SMS, java downloads and mobile video-based services) and to open their networks to hundreds of external content providers, enterprises and communities, thus creating a true 'mobile kiosk' placing the end-user at the center of the mobile experience.

This acquisition will allow Alcatel to further address the growing needs of mobile services providers (MSPs) for externally managed solutions including mobile applications, content aggregation and hosting.

"MNC has always been at the forefront of innovation for the benefit of mobile service providers, mobile content providers, and end-users", declared Edouard Lambelet, chief executive officer of MNC. "For MNC, joining Alcatel represents a fantastic opportunity to leverage Alcatel's impressive global reach in order to successfully replicate our solutions and our win-win business model around the world."

Alcatel SA