Alcatel Networks Orange 3GAlcatel Networks Orange 3G

Alcatel provides a complete UMTS radio access network for Orange France's experimental 3G network in Lille, in the North of France

February 23, 2004

3 Min Read

CANNES, France -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Orange today announced that Alcatel has provided a complete UMTS radio access network for the 3G experimental network of Orange France in Lille (in the North of France). At the same time, Alcatel is the exclusive provider of Orange France with an extensive portfolio of 3G services for the 3G experimental networks in Lille and in Toulouse (in the Southwest of France).

Following an initial phase of the live 3G services project which consisted of friendly user testing several of participants in each city, the second phase which is being announced today will give thousands of users in each city including hundred business users in Lille access to live 3G services.

Orange's main objective in this project is to determine real-world users' demand and acceptance of 3G services through market research and focus groups coupled to the project. This experimentation paves the way for the commercial opening of Orange's 3G services in France, for which Alcatel has the responsibility of 50% of the UMTS radio network deployment.

Alcatel has supplied the 3G network infrastructure (for Lille) and integration (for both cities), and is responsible for ensuring interoperability of the Core Network / Circuit Switched (CN/CS) infrastructure with the existing Core Packet network. In addition, Alcatel will provide radio network optimization and on-going operation and maintenance support.

On the software and services side, Alcatel is responsible for end-to-end integration of network, services and handsets for the trials in both cities, guaranteeing the Quality of Service (QoS) and performance from terminal to content and back. Alcatel has provided Orange with a complete solution from application enablers to content providers, and is integrating these participants with the company's information systems.

Among the full range of services that Orange will provide over time, the set of services developed and integrated by Alcatel for the field user test phase of this project include: Video Messaging, Presence, Gaming, Multimedia content access, Infotainment, Live sports events and Personal multimedia storage. Other innovative services developed by Alcatel (e.g. PC-to-phone video telephony, Video mailbox, TV kiosk, Webcam portal, etc.) will be introduced in subsequent phases of the project.

Several of these services can be accessed live from the Alcatel and Orange tent at the 3GSM which is directly connected with the Orange 3G experimental network in Lille: video telephony from Orange, bouquet TV from Orange, video display, on line games from Orange, live web cams access and live sports events.

"More than a mere supplier, Alcatel has long been a true partner for Orange", declared Didier Quillot, Executive Vice President of Orange France. "Building upon the results of this test project, Orange will be able to develop a set of best practices that will ensure a successful wide-scale launch of services across our 3G networks in France. We are grateful to Alcatel for their achievements."

"Alcatel and Orange share many values and goals, and have often worked together to face the challenges of the telecom market", declared Marc Rouanne, chief executive officer of Alcatel's mobile activities. "We are proud to have initiated this live 3G project with Orange, and consider it as a perfect example of a mutually beneficial process."

At 3GSM World Congress this year, Alcatel is enabling successful multimedia services, thanks to key partnerships with Universal Mobile, Intel, BeTomorrow, Eurosport, Orange, SK Telecom, as well as NTT DoCoMo.

Alcatel SA

Orange France

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