Telecom Egypt awards Alcatel-Lucent new submarine cable network linking Northern Egypt to France

Cairo, Egypt and Paris, France, January, 2008 — Telecom Egypt (TE) (Ticker: ETEL.CA; TEEG.LN), the incumbent telecom operator in Egypt, and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced they have signed a USD125 million contract to deploy a new submarine cable network linking Sidi Kerir in Egypt to Marseille in France. Named TE North, the project will enable Telecom Egypt to expand international connectivity, providing diversity from existing cable routes. Additionally, the TE North submarine cable system will help Telecom Egypt enhance its network capacity to operate as a wholesale carrier to other operators and expand its service offering to businesses and consumers.

Spanning 3,100 km, TE North can deliver an ultimate capacity of 128 x 10Gbit/s on eight fiber pairs, which makes it one of the largest cable systems in the region. As a result, Telecom Egypt will be able to meet the growing demand for broadband services of its business and residential users at more affordable costs. Moreover, it will further establish Egypt’s role as international communication hub between Europe and Asia/Africa, and it will also reinforce the city of Marseille as a communications hub with ‘open access’ facilities.

“Egypt has a young population with a growing demand for more and more capacity. In addition Telecom Egypt has decades long tradition of being the partner of choice to all Asia-Europe submarine cable systems, by providing the infrastructure for crossing from Red to Mediterranean Seas. Today, through TE North, we extend the Telecom Egypt service footprint by offering an option to extend this infrastructure from the Red Sea to Europe,” said Akil Beshir, Chairman and CEO of Telecom Egypt. “Alcatel-Lucent’s turnkey expertise and technological lead in submarine networks shall help us achieve our project and business objectives on time"

“Access to advanced technologies is key to operators like Telecom Egypt to best serve their customers,” said Georges Krebs, Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network activity. “By meeting the requirements of communications infrastructures in terms of capacity, flexibility and scalability, Alcatel-Lucent helps Telecom Egypt respond to the ramping demand for innovative applications.”