Alcatel Scores VOIP Deal in Taiwan

PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that Asia Pacific Telecom Group (APTG), a facilities based competitive operator in Taiwan, has selected its next generation network (NGN) solution to meet the demand for high quality and reliable Voice over IP (VoIP) services.

Under the terms of the contract, APTG will deploy the Alcatel 5020 Softswitch to deliver IP-based telephony services to enterprise customers using a range of IP-based communications devices including PC-based soft-phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and standards compliant IP phones*.

The Alcatel solution also provides seamless interworking between the public switched telephone network and VoIP networks thereby ensuring a smooth migration to NGN for APTG's existing customers. In addition to high quality VoIP, the Alcatel solution supports APTG's business objectives to expand its market opportunities by providing a platform for developing and delivering new data and multimedia services that target the individual needs of its customers.

"In a highly competitive marketplace like Taiwan, Alcatel's next generation network solution will allow us to respond quickly and cost-effectively to our customers' increased service demands while staying ahead of the competition," said James C. Jeng, Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom (APBT), a subsidiary of APTG. "As Taiwan's broadband development is gaining momentum, we will continue focusing our efforts on developing new multimedia services in order to attract new customers and gain market share."

"We have long standing strong relationship with APTG having already deployed more than 750,000 telephone lines throughout the country," said Alan Mottram, president of Alcatel's fixed solutions activities. "The successful deployment of our next generation network solution for APTG once again demonstrates Alcatel's expertise and capabilities in supporting our customers to develop diversified, reliable and competitively-priced next generation services. With our market-leading NGN portfolio, Alcatel is uniquely positioned to deliver the promise of user centric broadband."

Alcatel SA

Asia Pacific Telecom Group