Alcatel Wins in Egypt

PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it has signed a contract with Telecom Egypt, the national fixed incumbent operator, to transform part of its network and offer Voice over IP (VoIP) services. Alcatel's IP-based network transformation solution will enable Telecom Egypt to solidify and grow its subscriber base with new user-centric communications services as deregulation opens the Egyptian market to new entrants.

Eng. Dawlat El Badawi, Vice- Chairman Projects Planning at Telecom Egypt, said: "Alcatel's end-to-end solution will open doors to new revenue-generating services, allowing us to provide our customers with the highest levels of excellence in all areas of service provisioning."

"This contract is a big step forward in our relationship with Telecom Egypt and further positions Alcatel as the partner of choice for operators implementing IP network transformation projects," said Michel Rahier, President of Alcatel's fixed communications activities. "It is a perfect example of the added value that our technological innovation and deployment experience can bring to our customers."

With this agreement, Alcatel will support Telecom Egypt in transforming part of its existing TDM network into an intelligent, service-oriented network based on innovative, next-generation technology.

Alcatel will provide key components of its IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) solution, including the Alcatel 5020 Softswitch as well as the Alcatel 7510 and 7515 Media Gateways to communicate between the existing TDM and new IP networks. In addition, Telecom Egypt will deploy the Alcatel 7750 Service Router and Alcatel 5620 Service Aware Manager in multiple sites.

Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA)