Alcatel Teams With SKTAlcatel Teams With SKT

PARIS and SEOUL -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA), one of the world-leaders in payment solutions, and SK Telecom (KSE: 17670.KS and NYSE: SKM), the largest mobile operator in the Republic of Korea, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly develop and market advanced mobile communications applications on a world-wide basis. Both partners will develop and market together a wide range of integrated mobile applications, such as mobile commerce, location-based services, infotainment and gaming.

Under the terms of the MOU, Alcatel and SK Telecom will identify, test and integrate jointly selected SK Telecom's advanced mobile Internet services, together with Alcatel's existing mobile service and application platform, leveraging Alcatel's world-wide 3G Reality Centre network. Alcatel will be primarily responsible for marketing the jointly-developed mobile applications to wireless service providers. In the next phase of the partnership, Alcatel and SK Telecom will incubate, develop and promote new mobile services targeting selected markets.

As the first jointly selected service under the MOU, SK Telecom and Alcatel have agreed to develop a joint m-commerce solution targeting the mobile commerce market. The joint solution will integrate SK Telecom's network e-cash solution, NeMo, into Alcatel's world leading mobile payment solution. The two parties will then perform integration tests and make a definitive agreement for the joint solution to introduce it towards pre-paid markets such as China, South East Asia and Europe.

"The joint m-commerce solution will be a state-of-the-art service combining SK Telecom experience with Alcatel's marketing capability and technologies " declared Jin-Seok Cha, head of M-Finance Business Division of SK Telecom. "SK Telecom will benefit from Alcatel's established network of 3G Reality Centres. We will equally gain from Alcatel's huge installed client base for its mobile payment solution, and its global reach to expand our geographical coverage. In addition, we are impressed by Alcatel's outstanding integration capability in introducing end-to-end, market-ready mobile solutions, which point the way toward future development."

"By integrating the two solutions which combine the convenience of SK Telecom's NeMo, and the market-leading convergent payment platform from Alcatel, we will be able to provide the most competitive m-commerce solution to the wireless service providers. This innovative co-operation not only represents a major milestone towards the successful deployment of m-commerce worldwide but will also expand Alcatel's mobile Internet services portfolio ", stated Jean-Michel Cornille, President of Alcatel Mobile Solutions activities.

The jointly-developed mobile applications will speed up mobile service innovations and globalization by offering new revenue-generating opportunities to mobile service providers. Moreover, Alcatel's world leading position in payment solutions will enable service operators to provide continued value-added mobile Internet services to end-users, whilst generating more revenue in a timely manner.

Alcatel SA

SK Telecom