DALLAS -- Alcatel (NYSE: ALA) today announced that it has captured the world's number-one position in global optical transport in 2001, according to RHK, a leading telecom market research firm. Presented at the RHK's STARTRAX2002 Conference, this study names Alcatel as the world leader in the global optical transport market with 16 percent marketshare, a significant lead over all other competitors. This performance was driven by Alcatel's success in terrestrial optical networking. The covered market includes terrestrial and submarine applications with Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), optical networking, Synchronous Digital Hierarchy/Synchronous Optical Network (SDH/SONET) and cross-connect technologies. RHK estimates that the global optical transport market totaled $28 billion in 2001."Despite the submarine networking market slump, Alcatel has taken the number one position in the 2001 global optical transport market largely due to a very strong performance in the terrestrial optical transport market," said Stéphane Téral, director of European & Global Optical Transport at RHK. "Their renewed product mix, competitive lead-times, strong customer-base and worldwide presence have been the foundations of this accomplishment."Alcatel SA RHK Inc.