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MTC launches a new multimedia mobile service for the coverage of the 2006 FIFA World CupTM using Alcatel’s Mobile Kiosk solution


WEBWIRE

Paris, June 20, 2006 — Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C. (KSE Ticker: TELE, KSE Stock Number: 605, Reuters Ticker: TELE.KW), announced today the launch of innovative multimedia services for MTC mobile network subscribers using Alcatel’s Mobile Kiosk solution. MTC customers in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan are now able to interactively experience and enjoy the most exciting and decisive moments of all 64 matches of the 2006 FIFA World CupTM on their mobile phones.

This service is based on Alcatel’s recent cooperation with Dallah Telecom, an affiliate of Dallah Al Baraka Group, a Middle Eastern content provider and a new media licensee of the 2006 FIFA World CupTM, to jointly provide mobile operators in the Middle East and North Africa with a fully hosted turnkey mobile multimedia portal solution. In this cooperation, Dallah Telecom provides the content and Alcatel provides its technical solution known as “Mobile Kiosk”.

Thanks to this solution, MTC customers in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan will be able to:

* receive SMS alerts and MMS images on all games (goals, events, results),
* browse a WAP portal to get news on live matches, groups, matches’ results and 2002 retrospective,
* download or stream key video highlights (goals, best players, daily summaries...)

The service is available in English, French and Arabic.

The “Mobile Kiosk” is a full turnkey solution that allows content aggregation and service delivery in a hosted and operated mode. The solution is fully hosted, operated and integrated by Alcatel’s Regional Competence Center in Portugal. Drawing on its extensive expertise on Mobile Kiosk in Portugal, the Center provides a team of local managed solution experts as well as a set of local services to help operators and their partners.

Mr. Saad Abu Odeh, Chief Commercial Officer of MTC said: “These new services will give our customers the ability to access their favorite sport through SMS, MMS and video downloads as well as browse a host of specialized World Cup content on the official World Cup WAP site wherever they happen to be. With Alcatel, we are continuing our tradition of innovation that has long been associated with MTC.”

“Alcatel’s ”Mobile Kiosk“ solution allows rapid introduction of new content and mobile services to the operators’ s network in a cost effective manner, drastically reducing operating expenses,” stated Marc Rouanne, President of Alcatel’s mobile communications activities. “Thanks to the cooperation between Alcatel and Dallah Telecom, this new service will further enrich MTC’s subscribers’ mobile video and interactive experience.”

Alcatel’s Mobile Kiosk solution is already successfully powering more than 250 companies in Western Europe and in Africa and Middle East allowing operators to boost data usage and to open their network to local content providers, enterprises and communities. More than 80 mobile operators in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America have already adopted Alcatel’s video and multimedia solutions to enable their mobile video, music and live TV services.

The 2006 FIFA World CupTM is being held from June 9th to July 9th, 2006 in Germany.

About Dallah Telecom
Dallah Al Baraka is a major group in the Middle East and Worldwide with more than 60,000 employees. Dallah activities are focused on three sectors, Banking, Business / Industry and Media with ART TV channels. Dallah Telecom, an affiliate of Dallah Al Baraka, manages the new media rights, including Mobile network and Internet broadcasting, for the group on the Middle East and North Africa region. With its sister company ART which holds the TV rights, Dallah Telecom covers all the major world sports events and particularly main football leagues of Europe and MENA region. ART owns also the biggest Arabic movies library, and makes this media content available for Internet and Mobile Network applications through Dallah Telecom.

About MTC
MTC is the pioneer of mobile telecommunications in the Middle East and now a major player on the African continent. We began life in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator, and since the initiation of our “3x3x3” expansion strategy in 2002, we have expanded rapidly. As a leading mobile and data services operator in 6 Middle Eastern and 15 sub-Saharan African countries with 9000 employees, we provide a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 21 million individual and business customers. We operate in Kuwait and Bahrain as mtc-vodafone, in Jordan as Fastlink, in Iraq as mtc atheer, in Lebanon as mtc touch, in Sudan as Mobitel and in 15 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as Celtel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria.

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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