Alcatel-Lucent reaffirms WiMAX market leadership, broadband expertise at WiMAX Forum Global Congress 2009 in Amsterdam

Amsterdam – At the WiMAX Forum Global Congress 2009 trade show and exhibition, being in Amsterdam from June 2-3, Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE:ALU) is reaffirming its leadership in the WiMAX 802.16e (Rev-e) wireless broadband market, having secured more commercial agreements than any other infrastructure vendor.

The company recently inked a new WiMAX contract with GDS in Lebanon, bringing its industry-leading tally of Rev-e commercial deployment agreements to 36 worldwide. A total of 15 Rev-e networks deployed by Alcatel-Lucent are already in commercial service, half of these having gone live during the past 6 months. The vendor’s infrastructure supports a fast-growing population of more than 100,000 paying Rev-e subscribers.

At the show, Alcatel-Lucent is leveraging one of these live networks to showcase its technical strength -- that of Worldmax, which is already providing commercial WiMAX services in Amsterdam, the event’s host city. At the Alcatel-Lucent booth, the two companies will demonstrate downlink throughputs of up to 16 Mbps using Worldmax’s network (which will support speeds of up to 32 Mbps before the end of the year), as an illustration of WiMAX Rev-e’s performance in the 3.5GHz band. The booth will also feature a WiMAX-Wi-Fi continuity demo, Alcatel-Lucent’s Open Device Program and success stories from WiMAX customers worldwide.

“Our presence at this Congress underlines Alcatel-Lucent’s continuous commitment to WiMAX operators as well as to the long term evolution of the wireless broadband market,” said Mike Iandolo, President of the Wireless Networks Division for Alcatel-Lucent. “In our view, Rev-e is the best wireless broadband technology currently available, and is ideally suited to address the Enhanced Wireless DSL market segment which includes data-centric mobility usage on netbooks and mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) as well as residential and nomadic PC use.”

Through its success as a WiMAX market leader, Alcatel-Lucent also has developed industry-leading WiMAX deployment capabilities, including a comprehensive set of services – from network design, build, integration and optimization to network operation, incorporating attentive customer care and integrated billing services. These skills and experience make Alcatel-Lucent an ideal, long-term partner in the quest to build and operate networks that enable operators to meet subscribers requirements and aspirations.

Additionally, Alcatel-Lucent’s WiMAX equipment was among the first to be awarded WiMAX Forum certification in the 3.5GHz frequency band earlier this year, expanding on the 2.5GHz certification it earned last summer.

Other recent milestones include the operator Tatung opening Taiwan’s first WiMAX campus network using Alcatel-Lucent equipment, with the goal of fostering research and innovation in wireless broadband technology. Tatung University’s experimental network will help more than 4,000 people strengthen their telecommunication research and development of innovative WiMAX applications. Shortly afterward, on April 27, Tatung formally launched the island’s first commercial Rev-e services.

On the sidelines of the preceding WiMAX Forum Congress event in April, Alcatel-Lucent supported a Live WiMAX Network Tour organized by Malaysian operator PacketOne. More than 50 delegates were given the opportunity to experience live WiMAX network services in a real commercial environment while being shuttled from Singapore to Johor Bahru aboard double-decker buses.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing solutions 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