Italy’s Mediaset enhances TV service delivery with Alcatel’s optical solution

Paris, September 26, 2006 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) announced today that it has successfully upgraded Mediaset’s transport network to further enhance interconnections among its production sites and its operations as a content provider for other broadcasters. Alcatel’s optical data-aware technology enables Mediaset to pave the way for supporting new services such as DVB-H mobile TV, in addition to the existing offering comprising analog TV and DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) services that include educational channels and pay-per-view for movies, theater and live events.

The transport network upgrade was designed and engineered by its owner, Elettronica Industriale, which is a subsidiary of Mediaset and currently uses 1,700 transmitting towers to distribute video signals to about 99% of the population in Italy.

The optical multi-service network rolled out with Alcatel’s equipment delivers more powerful content sharing capabilities for broadcast production by linking Mediaset’s main studios located near Milan, to Rome, via bidirectional connections. The Alcatel solution raises the bar of Quality of Service (QoS) even higher by minimizing video signal distribution delays; avoiding the encoding and decoding previously required to compress bandwidth, and enabling significant savings in capital expenditures.

“This project confirms Alcatel’s strong commitment to closely work with broadcasters and help them deliver multiple services to their end-users in a flexible and cost-effective way,” said Romano Valussi, president of Alcatel’s optical networking activities. “The Alcatel solution for video applications offers Mediaset the functionality needed to broadcast with the highest quality, while offering a set of innovative services.”

Alcatel’s solution, based on its Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) equipment, offers an advanced platform to aggregate and transport uncompressed and compressed video signals. Alcatel’s OMSN systems use the 4xAny service concentrator, equipped with the Serial Digital Interface (SDI), for uncompressed digital video signals transmission at 270 Mbit/s over optical fiber networks. In addition, they use the Alcatel Integrated Service Adapter-ASI (ISA-ASI) card to aggregate ASI video signals, which are flexibly compressed from100 Mbit/s down to 2 Mbit/s and thus optimized to be transported over a broadcaster’s microwave radio network.

The new solution greatly strengthens Mediaset’s ability to contribute video signals, over a network based on the Alcatel’s 9600 LSY microwave radio equipment, offering best-in class SDH wireless technology and robustness for long haul, high-capacity applications, as well as high flexibility in terms of frequencies. Furthermore, the Alcatel solution provides Mediaset with advanced Gigabit Ethernet data connectivity to support internal IT applications.

About Mediaset and Elettronica Industriale
Mediaset is an Italy’s leading commercial television operator and one of the world’s largest media companies. In Italy, the Mediaset Group operates in the following areas: analogue free-to-air generalist television, free digital terrestrial thematic channels, pay-per-view digital terrestrial and multimedia. The network for the distribution of the signal of the Mediaset Group, which is owned by the subsidiary Elettronica Industriale, uses 1,700 technology towers to reach 99% of the population. The Mediaset Group’s network is an infrastructure that is not only used for the distribution of the television programs broadcast, but also for the transfer of semi-finished signals from any point of the network to the television production centers where the programs are put together (contribution system).

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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Mark Burnworth

Corporate Media Relations

Alcatel

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