Alcatel and Tekelec strengthen relationship

Paris and Morrisville, N.C., December 21, 2005 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA), worldwide leader in telecommunication solutions, and Tekelec (NASDAQ: TKLC), a leading developer of telecommunications products for next-generation fixed, mobile and packet networks, today agreed on a three-year extension of their preferred OEM agreement, thus allowing Alcatel to continue to deploy the Tekelec 8000 Media Gateway as a part of Alcatel’s Mobile Next Generation Network (NGN) solution.

The Tekelec 8000 is a highly flexible and reliable converged media gateway that ideally complements Alcatel’s innovative, standard-based distributed mobile switching solution. The cornerstone of this solution is the Alcatel 5020 Wireless Call Server, a multi-standard and field-proven mobile call server controlling distributed media gateways and managing call/session control for voice and data services.

Building upon this unique combination, Alcatel’s distributed Mobile NGN offering is a commercially available, field-proven and IT-based solution that allows cost-effective network rollout or extensions. It has already been chosen by leading operators in North America, in Europe and in Asia, and has been deployed or is currently being deployed for tier one service providers like T-Mobile USA, Dobson, TA Orange, Celcom Malaysia, China Mobile and VimpelCom. This solution is currently carrying live traffic on 2G and 3G networks, successfully handling over 1.5 billion commercial calls per month. Other leading operators are currently carrying out live market trials.

As part of this agreement, Alcatel will continue to integrate Tekelec’s media gateway in a significant portion of its Mobile NGN solution shipments and may now use Tekelec’s media gateway in fixed and mobile environments. In parallel, the two companies will also continue to actively cooperate on the implementation of the open Mc interface between the media gateway and the call server.

“Building upon Alcatel’s and Tekelec’s best-in-breed technologies, Alcatel has established a clear leadership position in the Mobile NGN market over the past two years,” Marc Rouanne, Chief operating officer of Alcatel’s mobile communications activities, commented. “The extension of our cooperation with Tekelec illustrates our strong commitment to field-proven and cost-effective solutions.”

Fred Lax, Tekelec President and Chief executive officer, added, “Tekelec is a leader in converged media gateway technologies, and the ideal choice to help mobile operators deliver advanced, revenue-building services today while supporting their transition to tomorrow’s converged solutions. Thanks to our renewed and extended relationship with Alcatel, a renowned global Mobile NGN turnkey solution provider, we expect to continue to grow our strong next-generation wireless media gateway market share.”

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 12.3 billion and 56,000 employees in 2004, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.

About the Tekelec 8000 Media Gateway
The Tekelec 8000 MG is a wireline and wireless media gateway based on 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards for GSM, UMTS, UMA and CDMA networks. Its flexible architecture simplifies the number of network elements required for building a 3G-core network, resulting in significantly reduced capital and operating costs. The Tekelec 8000 enables operators to seamlessly evolve into next-generation, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture.

About Tekelec
Tekelec is a leading developer of now and next-generation signalling and switching telecommunications solutions, business intelligence tools and value-added applications. Tekelec’s innovative solutions are widely deployed in traditional and next-generation wireline and wireless networks and contact centers worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located in Morrisville, N.C., with research and development facilities and sales offices throughout the world. For more information: www.tekelec.com

Contact Information

Charlie Guyer

Alcatel

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