TENERIFE, Spain -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and CanaLink, a consortium equally owned by IT3 and IslaLink, today announced at the SubOptic tradeshow in Yokohama Japan that they have signed a multi-million Euro contract to deploy a new submarine cable spanning 2000 km from Cadiz in Spain to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Slated for completion in the first half of 2011, this network will allow CanaLink to meet the Canary Islands’ booming Information and Communications Technology (ITC) demand for more broadband connectivity with the World Wide Web. It will support new IP services and applications, high-speed data centers that are used in renewable energy research, telecommunications services, public administration, and the academic and research community - in particular connecting the telescopes that sit atop the Roque de los Muchachos in the island of La Palma.

With an ultimate capacity up to 5.12 Terabits/s along the main segment from continental Spain to Tenerife, CanaLink will contribute to an initiative named ALIX through which the Government of Tenerife plans to make of its island an information technology hub for Africa, South America and Europe. This submarine network will also contribute to NAPWACI (Network Access Point of Western Africa and the Canary Islands), a data center that will be located in Tenerife and represents an essential element of ALIX, to make the Canary Islands a nexus point of highly-available and reliable connectivity for Western Africa.

“This project is a significant contribution to the regional communications infrastructure and socio-economic development by permitting diversified accessibility to cost-effective services,” said Alfonso Gajate, president of IslaLink and CanaLink. “Alcatel-Lucent’s field-proven experience will help us meet our customers’ expectations efficiently and with the highest quality levels.”

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)