Alcatel and Runcom to bring universal WiMAX to commercial readiness

Paris, October 12, 2006 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Runcom Technologies, Ltd, leader in OFDMA* technology, announced today at the WiMAX World conference (October 10-12, 2006 in Boston) that commercial ready products will be available for early adopters of universal WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005) technology.

Enhancing Alcatel’s Open CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) Policy, Alcatel and Runcom actively collaborated in different areas such as the development of end to end solutions including the integration of Runcom chipsets into Alcatel’s Evolium® WiMAX solution infrastructure as well as into terminals, interoperability testing, and joint marketing efforts in order to bring this new and exciting technology to commercial deployment.

In order to manufacture a variety of IEEE802.16e-2005 Standard compliant terminals such as PCMCIA cards (see picture attached), Indoor and outdoor CPE’s, and residential gateways supporting both PC connectivity and VoIP/SIP telephony, the two companies introduced the technology to device manufacturer ZyXEL (leader in broadband access solutions). All these ZyXEL branded products are powered by the Runcom RN200 ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

Dr Zion Hadad, Runcom’s Founder and CEO noted: “We are promoting the OFDMA technology for a reasonable time and now, with the leadership of Alcatel as a world class provider of communication solutions we are certain that the Mobile WiMAX technology will take off in the global markets.”

Sylvie Richir, Vice President of Alcatel Broadband Wireless Access activities noted: “The collaboration with a pioneer in OFDMA technology such as Runcom supported Alcatel in its plan to get real devices into customers’ hands. Thanks to this, Alcatel will be accelerating speed to market of its universal WiMAX solution, optimizing costs and sourcing, enabling to take full advantage of WiMAX (802.16e-2005) technology.”

*Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

About Runcom
Runcom is a technology company pioneering OFDMA based silicon solutions for User Terminals and Base Stations that comply with the IEEE802.16e-2005 standard for WiBro and Mobile WiMax applications, Runcom Products include the PHY and MAC communication layers. Runcom RNA200 ASIC was the first Mobile Wimax compliant ASIC in the Market. For more information, visit Runcom on the Internet: http://www.runcom.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

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Robin Karvo

Corporate Media Relations

Alcatel

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