CanaLink and Alcatel-Lucent sign multi-million Euro contract to deploy 2000 km submarine cable network linking Canary Islands to Spain’s mainland

Tenerife, Spain and Paris, 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.”

“The flexibility and scalability offered by our solutions allow our customers to cope with the adoption rates of fast-growing data services”, stated Philippe Dumont, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network activity. “With this project, CanaLink will have access to advanced technologies and rely on the bandwidth availability required to make end-users enjoy the best communications experience possible.”

About Canalink
CanaLink is a joint venture between IT3, Instituto Tecnológico de Telecomunicaciones de Tenerife (majority owned by Cabildo de Tenerife and devoted to the development of TICs in the island) and IslaLink (Spain’s leader in regional submarine networks – operates a neutral network in the Balearic Islands since 2001) – IslaLink has earned the endorsement of all major alternative operators in Spain and has recently won Ministry of Industry’s Tender to connect RedIRIS (Spain’s research and universities network) to the international telescope site located in the island of La Palma. IslaLink main shareholder is CUBE Infrastructures Fund, more about us in external linkwww.islalink.es.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: external linkhttp://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.