Tunisie Telecom selects Alcatel-Lucent's broadband access solution for triple play and VPNs

PARIS — Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced the implementation has begun of a multi-million Euro contract with Tunisie Telecom, Tunisia’s national incumbent operator, to deploy a DSL-based network solution. Alcatel-Lucent’s solution will enable Tunisie Telecom to extend its broadband access network and to offer high quality broadband services including VoIP and IPTV to consumers. In addition, it will support high speed Internet and VPN for the enterprises. The project is expected to be completed by early 2008.

“Thanks to Alcatel-Lucent DSL solution, we will be able to further expand the penetration of broadband services in Tunisia and to pave the way for the introduction of a variety of new services for the consumers such as IPTV and for enterprises such as high speed data lines and VPN”. said Ahmed Mahjoub, CEO, Tunisie Telecom.

“This new project extends our long-term partnership with Tunisie Telecom. It also demonstrates our strong commitment to support them in their offering of innovative multimedia and Internet services as broadband further develops in this country.” said Frederic Rose, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Alcatel-Lucent will provide its market leading ISAM (Intelligent Services Access Manager) product family including the 7302 ISAM and 7330 ISAM FTTN (Fiber to the Node). The solution also includes element management system and DSL testing and quality solution, respectively Alcatel-Lucent 5523 ADSL Workstation and Alcatel-Lucent 5530 Network Analyzer. These will help Tunisie Telecom manage its DSL infrastructure efficiently and make sure that service quality requirements are met at all stages of the service deployment.

Alcatel-Lucent is the uncontested market leader in broadband access with more than 150 million DSL lines shipped at the end of 3Q07. More than 180 customers have adopted the ISAM product family globally – including 80% of the top 20 DSL operators in the world. According to Dell’Oro, Alcatel-Lucent was #1 in the IP DSLAM market segment in Q1 2007, with 29% market share.