BellSouth selects Alcatel for WiMAX trial

Atlanta and Paris, June 27, 2006 – BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) and Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) announced today an agreement to trial Alcatel’s Evolium® WiMAX solution in the BellSouth lab. This agreement comes four months after Alcatel conducted the industry’s first live demonstration of the newly ratified WiMAX IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard.

BellSouth, the first major telecom provider to commercially launch wireless broadband using pre-WiMAX technology in the U.S., will begin lab trials next quarter based on Alcatel’s standards-based universal WiMAX solution (IEEE 802.16e-2005). The trials will be conducted in the 2.3 GHz WCS spectrum.

“BellSouth continues to pave the way in wireless broadband,” said Paulino Barros, chief product officer – BellSouth Retail Markets. “We are committed to increasing our broadband coverage. We look forward to working with Alcatel to assess the viability of offering a simple and seamless WiMAX solution that will extend broadband even further into our network.”

In addition to its active role in the WiMAX Forum™, Alcatel has been broadening the WiMAX ecosystem over the past year by cooperating with leading trendsetters to define reference usage profiles and conduct interoperability testing. With the WiMAX IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard now ratified, carriers are eager to move to next stage of market validation so as to take advantage of its unique cost, coverage and performance benefits. Alcatel’s cost-efficient, high-performance Evolium® WiMAX infrastructure is a truly universal broadband wireless access solution, natively supporting fixed, nomadic and mobile usage.

“Alcatel believes that broadband wireless access technology offers important strategic value to carriers looking to deliver the high-speed, high-quality services that their customers expect wherever they are,” said Hubert de Pesquidoux, Executive Vice President and President of Alcatel’s North American activities. “This trial with BellSouth is a significant indication that our customers agree - universal WiMAX is ready for the market, and the market is ready for universal WiMAX.”

WiMAX is a new 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 in fact 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.

The Alcatel Evolium® WiMAX solution will be shown in the Alcatel booth at the WCA conference June 27 through 30 in Washington DC.

About BellSouth Corporation
BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 500 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth has joint control and 40 percent ownership of Cingular Wireless, the nation’s largest wireless voice and data provider with 55.8 million customers. Backed by award-winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers®, residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial-up and high-speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular® Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers print and online directory advertising through The Real Yellow Pages® and YELLOWPAGES.COM™ from BellSouth.BellSouth believes that diversity and fostering an inclusive environment are critical in maintaining a competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace. More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com.

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

Contact Information

Charlie Guyer

Corporate Media Relations USA

Alcatel

Contact via E-mail