PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP:PA and NYSE: ALA) announcedtoday it has priced its offering of its Class O Optronics Division trackingshares. Alcatel sold 16,500,000 shares, at a price to the public of 85.00per share ($71.95/ADS). The underwriters have a greenshoe option tosubscribe an additional 2,475,000 class O shares to cover over-allotments.The offering was four times over-subscribed in difficult market conditions.The shares begin trading today in Paris on the Premier Marché under thesymbol CGO and in New York in the form of American Depositary Shares on theNASDAQ under the symbol ALAO. The global coordinator and book-running leadmanager of the offering is Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Alcatel will use thenet proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes.

Mr. Jean-Pierre Halbron, President and CFO of Alcatel said, "Our Optronicstracking stock, the first of its kind in Europe to our knowledge, allows usto highlight the inherent value of our world-leading optical componentsactivities. The success of this offering, in, quite frankly, difficultmarket conditions, validates our overall strategy to create shareholdervalue in the high growth telecom business."

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