Alcatel, Qualcomm Start Interop TestingAlcatel, Qualcomm Start Interop Testing

CANNES, France -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it is initiating interoperability tests between its Alcatel Evolium? multi-standard mobile network infrastructure solution and QUALCOMM's (Nasdaq: QCOM) HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access)-enabled MSM6275? chipset.

During the 3GSM World Congress 2005, Alcatel will be showing a live demonstration of its HSDPA solution in a showcase area shared with Orange (Hall 2, Level +1, N° 01-02).

QUALCOMM's Mobile Station Modem? (MSM?) MSM6275? chipset for WCDMA with support for HSDPA, part of QUALCOMM's Enhanced Platform, delivers peak data rates of up to 1.8 Mbps, allowing faster transmission of larger data files and improved file transfer capabilities to drive commercial wireless multimedia, enabling advanced gaming, music distribution services and the faster streaming of multimedia files.

Alcatel's Evolium-based HSDPA solution will provide mobile operators and mobile users alike with the maximum benefits of HSDPA, as Alcatel's HSDPA solution, on top of the QPSK modulation (up to 3.6 Mb/s) which is mandatory according to 3GPP specifications, will also deliver the optional 16QAM modulation (up to 14.4 Mb/s). When in commercial use, the actual average data throughput of Alcatel's HSDPA solution will reach from 2 to 3Mb/s, i.e. from five to eight times more than the current 3G/UMTS 384 kb/s maximum throughput.

Based on Evolium's natively multi-standard architecture, the deployment of Alcatel's HSDPA solution will require a simple software-only upgrade, all Alcatel's Node Bs already being fully HSDPA-ready. An additional benefit of Alcatel's Node Bs is that they are perfectly suited to manage indoor traffic and solutions, which will match the growing needs of corporate users working from their office for easier and faster access to e-mails with bulky attachments, corporate networks and intranets.

"Positioned correctly, HSDPA will further improve the success of 3G, delivering increased capability necessary to accommodate the market uptake of high-speed mobile applications such as content downloads," said Jason Chapman, Principal Analyst, Mobile Infrastructure at Gartner.

Alcatel

Qualcomm Inc.