Equatorial Guinea’s Government reduces digital divide selecting Alcatel-Lucent for new domestic submarine cable network linking Bata and Malabo

Paris.— Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) has signed a turnkey contract with the Government of Equatorial Guinea to roll out a new, domestic submarine cable network connecting the cities of Malabo, on the northern coast of the Bioko island, to Bata, on the continent. This new cable network will help reduce the digital divide by fostering the availability and accessibility to high quality, innovative broadband applications at more affordable costs.

Scheduled for completion at the end of first quarter 2009, this new domestic connection will span 280 km delivering an ultimate capacity of 80 Gbit/s. Additionally, it will interconnect with existing and future cable routes greatly enhancing Equatorial Guinea’s international connectivity and reliability of its communications infrastructure. With its landing point in Bata, this new submarine cable network will also contribute backhauling the traffic carried over the country’s existing microwave network.

“Our citizens have experienced a fast-growing quality of life improvement over the past years” said Mr. E. Mercader, Minister of Telecommunications, Transport and New Technologies of Equatorial Guinea. “Our commitment is to continue evolving our living standards through a flexible communication infrastructure meeting new service demands reliably and cost-effectively.”

“This contract confirms Alcatel-Lucent’s commitment to delivering high added-value broadband services and applications that stimulate socio-economic development” stated Etienne Lafougère, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network activity. “This new contract further strengthens the role of submarine networks as a key enabler of universal broadband services by linking every corner of the world.”