Alcatel-Lucent successfully lands Maroc Telecom’s Atlas Offshore submarine network in Marseille, France

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) has completed for Maroc Telecom, the leading telecommunication operator in Morocco, the manufacturing and installation of the Atlas Offshore submarine cable network, linking the cities of Asilah in Morocco, to Marseille in France. Directly interconnecting Maroc Telecom with the various European operators, Atlas Offshore supports the growth and convergence of fixed and mobile services. This submarine cable network was landed in Marseille today in the presence of representatives from Maroc Telecom and Alcatel-Lucent.

Spanning more than 1,630 km, Atlas Offshore strengthens regional connectivity and high-speed access capabilities. It offers advanced restoration capabilities and serves as backhaul infrastructure to the existing Eurafrica submarine system - 3,200 km connecting France, Morocco and Portugal - and to Sea-Me-We 3. With a 320 Gbit/s design capacity, Atlas Offshore secures existing international links and enhances Maroc Telecom’s network capacity. Thus, Maroc Telecom will be able to deliver high-speed services such as high-speed Internet, TV over ADSL, mobile data services, and off-shoring activities.

This new connection confirms Marseille as a crucial communication hub, being at the crossroad of the Sea-Me-We 3, Sea-Me-We 4 and Med-Cable submarine networks, all landed by Alcatel-Lucent. Atlas Offshore will further contribute to the city’s economic development and of the many small and medium enterprises created over the past years in business segments including petrochemicals, microelectronics, telecommunications and oceanic engineering.

“This new submarine network contributes to improving global connectivity for both consumers and business,” said Jean Godeluck, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine networking activities. ”Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine technology delivers the benefits of maximum network effectiveness to support Maroc Telecom in best serving its end-users"

Alcatel-Lucent supplied its managed, regional solution associating highly-reliable cables and repeaters - installed by the Ile de Sein, one of Alcatel-Lucent’s dedicated and most powerful installation cable ships - with its 1620 Light Manager (LM) dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) submarine line terminal. Alcatel-Lucent also provided its 1678 Metro Core Connect (MCC) for terrestrial applications.

As part of the Euro 26 million turnkey contract signed in July 2006, Alcatel-Lucent has been in charge of the design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning, integration and testing of the entire system, along with post-commissioning support.