Alcatel-Lucent joins forces with Telkom Foundation to establish the first e-learning centre and Internet Café of its kind at Grassy Park School in Cape Town

Cape Town - South Africa – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Telkom Foundation have collaborated on the establishment of an e-learning centre and Internet café at Grassy Park Senior Secondary School in Cape Town. This new center will provide students with free access to high-speed Internet service, and will further boost access to advanced communications services to the school’s neighboring communities.

This project, a key component of Alcatel-Lucent’s corporate social responsibility program in South Africa, will provide funding to support the school and its community by setting-up a fully equipped e-learning centre with DSL connectivity for a better learning experience for scholars and for easy Internet Access to the surrounding community.

The centre will be equipped with the latest high-performance computers, high-speed Internet access, and a complete set of learning facilities and tools. It will be able to accommodate about 25 students at a time.

“This initiative is part of Alcatel-Lucent’s Corporate Social Investment program, which places education high on its agenda, with a view toward developing local talent and providing better learning opportunities for underserved areas,” said Alcatel-Lucent South Africa’s Managing Director, Mervin Kamoetie. “We believe that young people must have access to information technology during their formative years so that, as a country, we can be competitive globally"

Grassy Park High School serves a disadvantaged community in Cape Town with the vision to be a community-based school that contributes to the development of the country by providing educational services to young students as well to adult learns.

“Our contribution to this exciting project is yet another step along the way in our determined effort to narrow the digital divide around the globe,” said Thierry Albrand, Vice-President of Alcatel-Lucent’s “Digital Bridge” initiative. “For Alcatel-Lucent, this e-learning centre is not just a donation, it is part of our role for the community. As we aim to sustain our global technological leadership and help the world communicate better, while meeting our obligations to communities we live and work in. This commitment to social responsibility is one of Alcatel-Lucent most enduring and important corporate values.”

This joint initiative between Alcatel-Lucent and Telkom SA is the second of its kinds in South Africa where these two companies are working together to create an ICT services platform accessible to assist deserving communities with access to the communications world, thereby narrowing the digital divide in the country. A similar initiative, known as the Mzansi Internet Café was launched in Tembisa, North East of Johannesburg in 2006 and this internet café is still rendering services to the community of Tembisa.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing solutions that to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 16.98 billion in 2008 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com