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Alcatel-Lucent signs 3-year frame agreement with Africell Burundi for the delivery of an end-to-end nationwide GSM/EDGE network


WEBWIRE

ITU Telecom Africa - Cairo, May 2008 — Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been awarded a 3-years frame agreement by Africa Cellulaire (Africell) Burundi, a subsidiary of VTEL Holdings, which will start operating under its new “TEMPO” brand, for the delivery of a complete nation-wide GSM/EDGE network. The first phase of the contract is valued at USD 20 million.

Under the terms of the contract Alcatel-Lucent will install and deploy a full end-to-end GSM /EDGE network, including Base Station Sub-systems (BSS), next-generation-based Mobile Switching Centers – (which consist of the Alcatel-Lucent 5060 Wireless Call Server and Alcatel Lucent Wireless Media Gateway), Intelligent Network applications and services platforms as well as radio optimization design and consulting services. Alcatel-Lucent also will supply its high capacity microwave transmission solution to support the transport of voice and data traffic from the base stations to the core network. In addition Alcatel-Lucent will be solely responsible for the maintenance of the operator’s network.

Once the project is completed, Alcatel-Lucent’s mobile solutions will enable the Burundian operator to provide state of the art mobile communications services throughout the country and secure the needed functionality to deliver innovative, value-added services to customers.

“We are confident that relying on Alcatel-Lucent’s extensive experience in designing and deploying turnkey end-to-end integrated solutions will enable us to meet the challenge of rapidly deploying the GSM/EDGE mobile network in Burundi, thus providing to our customers access to a superior quality network that offers advanced innovative services”, said Mr. Nour Atout, VTEL’s chief executive officer for Africa. “Burundi is a very important market for VTEL, given its existing growth potential, and we are quite positive that Alcatel-Lucent’s state-of-the-art GSM/EDGE solutions will enable us to achieve our objective of bringing advanced mobile telephony to parts of Burundi it has not reached before.”

“Alcatel-Lucent is committed to bringing to Burundi advanced communications technology and services expertise that will contribute to its economic growth. We are proud to support VTEL in its drive to become a reliable telecoms services’ provider offering innovation and new value-added services with affordable prices in Burundi”, said Vincenzo Nesci, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in the Middle East and Africa. “This contract further confirms Alcatel-Lucent long-term commitment to support the social and economic development in Africa by assisting people throughout the continent to have access to information and benefit from the advantages of modern telecoms services.”

Thanks to Alcatel-Lucent’s field-proven GSM/EDGE solutions portfolio, and experience in integrating and managing large scale complex communications network projects, Africell Burundi will be able to expand its network quickly and efficiently while minimizing its operations and deployment costs. It also will gain real competitive advantages in the market, such as high quality of service (QoS) and the ability to offer attractive new mobile services to its customers.

Alcatel-Lucent is a key global player in the GSM/EDGE market, with a strong worldwide footprint and leading positions in high-growth economies. Alcatel-Lucent supports more than 180 GSM/EDGE operators in 93 countries.



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