Alcatel launches an accreditation program for its employees awarding the management of complex projects

Paris, January 9, 2005 — During an official award ceremony at Alcatel’s headquarters in Paris recently, the 2005 certified top project directors of Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) have been welcomed by the board of directors. Two years ago, Alcatel launched an innovative accreditation program for its project managers. This program, which includes the Project Management Institute* (PMI) certification, enables the project managers of the Group to continuously improve their skills in complex project management. At the end of the program, the candidate receives Alcatel’s accreditation.

Beyond the PMI certification, Alcatel proposes the PM3 and PM4 levels. Four levels of competence along a career path are clearly defined: project leader (PM1), project manager (PM2 or PMI equivalent), project director (PM3) and executive project directors (PM4).

The PM3 accreditation allows Alcatel to identify a key competence and to ensure that all the project directors within the Group have the same language and share the same strategy.
In front of the customer, the business skills of the project managers are today a key criteria in the selection process of a vendor. The PM3 accreditation permits the customer to assess the competences of the project director, which will be its interface in a complex project.

“Project managers are not only the ones who make sure that Alcatel fulfills its commitment to the customer and delivers what was ordered on time and to budget,” said Olivier Houssin, President of Alcatel’s private communications group, “they act as a general manager of a small company during the completion of a contract. Thus, they should have skills in planning, anticipating, reviewing, and evaluating to deliver results. They are the single interface with the customer and our first asset to deliver operational excellence in turnkey integrated solutions. Therefore, they are at the forefront of creating customer’s satisfaction.”

Alcatel’s objective is to maintain this training program and to accredit an additional 30 project directors per year and 200 project managers, the total number in Alcatel being today 1,000. Alcatel is committed to sustain its effort to train and develop this core competence.

* About Project Management Institute (PMI):
Project Management Institute provides vital and forward thinking focused on the needs of project management professionals worldwide. PMI represents a truly global community with more than 200,000 professionals, representing 125 countries. PMI professionals come from virtually every major industry including, aerospace, automotive, business management, construction, engineering, financial services, information technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and telecommunications.

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.

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Régine Coqueran

Alcatel

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