Alcatel–C-DOT JV opens a Universal WiMAX Reality Center

First state-of-the-art WiMAX IEEE 802.16e-2005 lab in India

Paris, November 8, 2006 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and C-DOT, the Indian Government’s telecom technology development center, today announced that a new state-of-the-art “WiMAX reality center” has been officially inaugurated in Chennai, India. This is the first lab of its scale entirely dedicated to WiMAX IEEE 802.16e-2005 technology in India.

Hosted at the C-DOT Alcatel Research center, a global broadband wireless R&D center with 51% owned by Alcatel and 49% by C-DOT, this lab will bring together experts from across India, test and build pre-integrated customer-specific solutions. It will serve as a showcase of broadband wireless access for rural, urban and suburban regions in India, at a time when the Indian Regulatory Body (TRAI) has just made its recommendations to the Department of Telecom regarding WiMAX frequency allocation.

One year ago, C-DOT Alcatel Research Center was set up to design and develop ready-to-industrialize products and reference designs compliant with WiMAX Forum standards. The strategy is to propose ’end-to-end solutions’ including low cost WiMAX CPEs suitable for the needs of India and other emerging markets, as well as to offer customized WiMAX infrastructure solutions for the existing networks.

The WiMAX reality center includes an end-to-end architecture – comprising base stations, WAC (WiMAX Access Controller) and CPEs – which demonstrates the benefits of WiMAX IEEE 802.16e- 2005 standard and showcases residential and business usages with Voice over IP, High Speed Internet access and Multimedia applications such as IPTV, Mobile TV and Video streaming.

“The C-Dot Alcatel Research Center JV and its ”WiMAX reality center“ are now up and running. We have been working very hard for the last one year to gather resources and expertise, which made these major achievements possible. The WiMAX reality center reaffirms our commitment to the Indian telecommunications market, ”said R. Poornalingam, Chairman of C-DOT Alcatel Research Center. “We are now set to efficiently help our customers to launch their first WiMAX trial and commercial deployment in the Indian market so as to quickly reduce the digital divide between the urban and the rural areas of this country”.

“This WiMAX reality center opening in India is a key milestone in Alcatel’s broadband wireless strategy”, said Sylvie Richir, Vice President of Alcatel Broadband Wireless Access activities. “We strongly believe in the enormous potential of broadband wireless access. It really meets the needs of high end-users who require seamless broadband mobility with a single subscription as well as users in remote villages in high-growth economies who are eager to connect to the telephone network and Internet for the first time ”.

For more information about the C-DOT Alcatel Research Center (CARC), please visit : http://www.carc.co.in

About WIMAX
WiMAX is a broadband wireless access technology that enables connectivity through wireless networks for fixed, nomadic or mobile use in urban, suburban and rural areas. The technology offers a cost-effective broadband access alternative where DSL is unavailable for technical or economical reasons, or a last-mile alternative to unbundling for operators who are offering a combination of voice and broadband access offers to the next generation of wireless devices. The 802.16e-2005 WiMAX standard is a more advanced successor to 802d.16-2004 (called “Static WiMAX,” or Revision d), and offers superior performance and flexibility in pure fixed deployment scenarios.

About C-DOT
The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is the Telecom Technology development centre of the Government of India. It was established in August 1984. C-DOT’s objective is to develop telecom technologies and solutions for the fixed-line, mobile, packet-based and converged networks. While taking a quantum leap towards the Next Generation Networks (NGN), C-DOT has kept a significant focus on cost-effective rural network solutions and also leveraged the legacy network. C-DOT’s current product portfolio spans world-class Digital Switching systems, Intelligent Network solutions, Access Network products, Voice over IP solutions, SDH & WDM technologies, Satellite Communication systems, Network Management Systems and Operation Support Systems. Digital Switching systems, Intelligent Network systems and Rural Telecom products from C-DOT dominate the large Indian Telecom Network. This distinction emerges from the cost-effectiveness and ruggedness of C-DOT products as well as a comprehensive technology transfer and field support methodology that focuses on long-term relationship with the technology recipients, network operators and service providers.

About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com

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Régine Coqueran

Corporate Media Relations

Alcatel

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