Russia’s CJSC SMARTS chooses Alcatel-Lucent to expand and upgrade its wireless network

Mobile World Congress - Barcelona, February, 2008- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that Closed Joint Stock Company SMARTS (SMARTS) has purchased Alcatel-Lucent’s latest generation of GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio equipment to upgrade and expand its existing wireless network in several regions of Russia. The project will be implemented in several phases, with the major part to be completed by April 2008

Alcatel-Lucent’s state-of-the-art GSM/GPRS/EDGE solution will enable SMARTS to expand coverage and network capacity in the regions of Penza, Samara and Saratov, and the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Alcatel-Lucent also will upgrade SMARTS’ existing network infrastructure. This scheduled expansion and modernization will help SMARTS more effectively manage its network and provide subscribers with a wide range of new interactive broadcast applications. Subscribers will be able to access a much wider variety of content on their mobile terminals, including news, music and games.

“It is important for SMARTS to take the lead in introducing innovative communications solutions and ensure a high-quality of services to our customers. We are looking for new technological capabilities for our network development to provide our subscribers with the same services that are available to mobile subscribers in other countries,” said Andrei Girev, General Director of SMARTS. “We have a long-standing relationship with Alcatel-Lucent whom we consider a reliable partner to support us in our network transformation processes.”

Alcatel-Lucent will supply its state-of-the-art base stations sub-system (BSS) equipment including the Twin TRX radio transceiver, which doubles base station capacity to support the requirements of urban environments and allows wider coverage in rural environments, while at the same time reducing power consumption by up to 30 percent. The Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) Base Station Controller (BSC) platform’s compact and high-performance design helps service providers reduce their network operating expenses. Alcatel-Lucent will install, deploy and integrate these products and upgrade the Alcatel-Lucent base stations already installed in SMARTS network as well as the switching and management systems. As a result, SMARTS will have a flexible and reliable infrastructure that can cost-effectively support future network expansions.

Alcatel-Lucent’s GSM/EDGE solutions are designed to optimize all factors that impact the operator’s total cost of ownership (TCO), such as site acquisition, site rental, civil engineering work as well as power consumption, transmission and operating and maintenance costs.

“With this project we will significantly expand our presence in the SMARTS network and enter new regions on the operator’s map. The fact that SMARTS has chosen Alcatel-Lucent’s solution for its network upgrade and expansion confirms the excellent performance of our systems and the well established cooperation between our companies,” said Johan Vanderplaetse, President of Alcatel-Lucent in CIS, Central and Southern Europe.

Alcatel-Lucent is a leading player in the GSM/EDGE market with more than 180 customers in more than 90 countries, and a global leader in the development and deployment of third-generation (3G) networks, having deployed commercial 3G (UMTS/HSPA and CDMA/EV-DO) systems for more than 70 operators worldwide.