AlcaLu Helps Maxis With e-Books

PARIS and KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- With the help of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), Maxis Berhad - Malaysia’s leading integrated communications service provider - has launched the country’s first integrated e-book service. In full support of the Malaysian government’s knowledge society program, Maxis Berhad will provide access to an extensive digital library with content in the various (local) languages, and accessible via a wide range of devices.

According to Juniper Research, worldwide mobile e-book sales will represent a market opportunity of $9.7 billion by 2016 (growing from $3.2 billion in 2011). At the same time, however, non-English speaking markets are underserved by the traditional players in this space: many e-readers are only available in a few countries and finding content in local languages typically is a challenge. Malaysia is a “textbook example” of this: a relatively small, multi-ethnic and multicultural society where many different languages are spoken.

Backing the government’s project to continue to develop Malaysia as a leading knowledge society, Maxis Berhad has engaged with Alcatel-Lucent to launch an extensive library of e-books – novels as well as scientific publications – that can easily be accessed via a wide range of devices including tablets, dedicated e-readers and PCs. Currently, the library includes approximately 300,000 international and local books. The total number is growing weekly.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)