China Unicom selects Alcatel-Lucent IP service routers for nationwide network transformation

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that its industry-leading IP routing solution has been selected by China Unicom, a leading mobile service provider in China,as the foundation of a nationwide network transformation. As a result, China Unicom will accelerate the delivery of IP-based premium voice, multimedia and VPN services. The network deployment will encompass 65 cities across 13 provinces in China and will be completed by the end of 2007. The project was secured through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel-Lucent’s flagship company in China.

The Alcatel-Lucent IP solution, based on its 7750 Service Router, will enable China Unicom to better serve its customers, as it expands its service offerings towards 3G. Alcatel-Lucent’s solution will also support China Unicom’s rapid increase in CDMA subscribers and newly-launched data services on its GPRS network. The solution provides massive scalability and critical Quality of Service features that support ever-growing bandwidth requirements and enable premium service delivery while simultaneously reducing operational complexity.

“Service providers are looking for solutions that provide a differentiating architecture to enable effective delivery of high quality next generation services,” said Gerard Dega, President of Alcatel Shanghai Bell. “With our expertise in deploying state-of-the-art IP solutions, we will help China Unicom to satisfy its customers with the most flexible, scalable and highest quality IP services.”

China Unicom joins a growing list of mobile operators who have selected the Alcatel-Lucent IP solution including recent wins with Vodafone, Verizon and SFR. Alcatel-Lucent IP solutions have been selected by over 170 service providers in more than 65 countries, including China’s major providers: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Netcom. During the first quarter of 2007, Alcatel-Lucent reinforced its #2 position in IP/MPLS edge garnering 20% of the market according to Ovum-RHK, and is the fastest-growing edge router vendor in the Asia-Pacific region.