Alcatel Cuts ICE Deal

PARIS -- Alcatel announces today the signing of a US$44million contract with ICE, the incumbent telecommunications operator inCosta Rica, for additional expansion and upgrade of its national fixednetwork. This contract is the largest single telecommunications contractever signed in this country.This extension foresees the provision of network solutions based on theAlcatel 1000 switching systems, as well as software upgrades. Thesesolutions will enable ICE to offer new advanced services to its customers,such as ISDN and high-speed internet access over ADSL. Delivery will beginimmediately and the first part of the network is expected to be in servicefirst quarter of 2002.The expansion will allow ICE's network capacity to hit the 1 millionsubscriber mark, and face the huge demand for new telephone lines in thecountry.Alvaro Retana, ICE's Telecom CEO, states: "This investment demonstrates ourcommitment to provide Costa Rica with a national network that will offerthe most innovative and advanced services available to both our residentialand business customers. Alcatel’s ability to deploy the network quicklywill enable us to meet the demands of our rapidly growing subscriber base.”In a separate release:Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA; NYSE: ALA) has beenawarded two key contracts by Djibouti Telecom (Djibtel), the localincumbent operator, to supply a turnkey GSM network and to extend its fixedinfrastructure and services. Alcatel becomes Djibouti's first GSM networksupplier.Alcatel is supplying Djibouti Telecom with its industry leading Evolium(TM)GSM solution. It comprises several radio base stations (BTS), a mobileswitching center (MSC) with a 25,000 subscriber capacity, and a servicenode system capable of offering value-added services such as prepaid mobilesolutions, a global voice mail service (GVM) and a short messaging servicecenter (SMS-C). To complement the mobile solution, Alcatel will alsoprovide its cutting-edge point-to-point capacity microwave radio systemsfor long-haul applications. The network will first cover the great Djiboutiarea as well as Arta, Dihda, Godirre, Iskoutir, Dikhil, Ali Sabieh butextension programs are already foreseen for the future.Alcatel SA