Alcatel, Holdfast Target Gaming in China

PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Shanghai Holdfast Online Information Technology Co. Limited (Holdfast), one of the top three online gaming service suppliers in China, today jointly announced their partnership to accelerate broadband entertainment development in China. The partnership agreement was signed through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's flagship Chinese company.

At the agreement signing ceremony today, the two companies also announced that Zhejiang Telecom became the first beneficiary of the partnership by receiving 10,000 sets of gaming suites for immediate deployment over its broadband network. Since the year 2000, Alcatel has supplied a total of 1.05 million digital subscriber lines (DSL) to Zhejiang Telecom. At present, Zhejiang Telecom has more than two million broadband subscribers.

Under the partnership agreement, Alcatel will offer an integrated broadband solution to China's telecom operators, which includes Alcatel's industry-proven DSL solutions and Holdfast's gaming access suites. As a result, operators will be able to offer their broadband subscribers access to Holdfast's online platform of rich and bandwidth-intensive gaming content, supported by a reliable high-speed internet access service. The new service offering will help operators differentiate themselves from their competition and expand their subscriber base.

"Following the announcement of our cooperation with Shanda Networking in June, this partnership will further drive the growth of the broadband market and accelerate the adoption of broadband entertainment in China," said Michel Rahier, Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel's fixed communications activities. "As a recognized leader and pioneer in broadband, Alcatel will continue partnering with industry players and providing professional business consulting services to help operators bring user-centric broadband services to end users."

Li Lijun, President of Shanghai Holdfast Online Information Technology Company Limited, said, "We see great potential in China's broadband entertainment market. Leveraging Alcatel's strong customer base in China and global experience in broadband business, we are confident of reaching out to more broadband users to offer them the best online gaming experience."

Alcatel SA