PARIS -- France Telecom Group, with its fully-owned subsidiary Equant, and Cisco Systems Inc. announced today that they have been selected by Airbus for a five-year contract to implement an IP (Internet Protocol) telephony solution. According to the terms of the contract, France Telecom Group will provide a full IP solution in Airbus sites, starting in France and the United Kingdom. Cisco Systems, a long-term local area network provider for Airbus, will provide the IP-based telephony system.

This contract includes migration from traditional private branch exchanges (PBX) to fully IP-based telephony system for 30,000 extensions in France, at both Toulouse sites, and 10,000 extensions in the United Kingdom, at sites in Filton and Broughton.

Cisco will provide 40,000 IP telephone handsets and Cisco CallManager call-processing software to cover all sites. France Telecom, in France, and Equant, in United Kingdom, will provide integration services, including support services with dedicated onsite teams to ensure efficient and complete migration to the new system by the 40,000 end-users.

France Telecom, the main contractor, has full responsibility for the service contract and has signed a service level agreement that certifies the Group commitment to the success of the solution. Tests have been conducted with a panel of end-users to ensure user-friendliness of the system. New functionalities have also been introduced.

From the starting date of the contract, France Telecom and Equant will assume responsibility for the day-to-day support and management of the existing telephone system. Following the completion of a due diligence process, deployment and migration to the new IP telephony solution will be implemented. This solution includes voice messaging, contact centers and business processes such as billing and cost center allocation.

France Telecom SA

Cisco Systems Inc.