Alcatel announces commercial availability of its 850MHz GSM/GPRS Evolium™ mobile infrastructure
Alcatel and Wavecom demonstrate live end-to-end GSM/GPRS 850MHz services at 3GSM Americas
Paris, December 4, 2002 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA), the fastest growing GSM/GPRS supplier, announces today the commercial availability of its 850 MHz GSM/GPRS mobile infrastructure. Alcatel and Wavecom (Nasdaq: WVCM; Euronext Nouveau Marché: 7306), a leading provider of integrated wireless modules, successfully demonstrate end-to-end voice and data GSM/GPRS 850MHz services at the 3GSM America 2002 congress in São Paulo, Brazil. This live demonstration is powered by Alcatel's Evolium™ multi-band radio and core GSM/GPRS infrastructure and Wavecom's WISMO wireless modules. This demonstration can be viewed on December 4th and 5th at the Alcatel (C15) booth situated at the Frei Caneca Convention Center.
Marc Rouanne, President of Alcatel's Mobile Networks activities declared: "We fully support the 850MHz frequency range as part of our standard Alcatel's Evolium™ GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz network solutions. As South America migrates to GSM, we believe this capability will allow easier network deployment or extension for many operators, as well as rapid access to Alcatel's GPRS and EDGE network solutions."
"We are pleased to team up with Alcatel to demonstrate true interoperability which is indispensable for the deployment of 850MHz services throughout the Americas. Wavecom has recently introduced its 850/1900MHz GSM/GPRS WISMO module that will enable wireless devices to operate in this new frequency range," added Hany Neoman, President of Wavecom, Inc.
Today, one out of four operators' trusts Alcatel for the supply of its GSM/GPRS networks in all seven continents. Alcatel's solution perfectly meets mobile operators' requirements in the deployment of their new networks or in the optimization of their existing infrastructures.
About Wavecom
A world pioneer in innovative wireless solutions, Wavecom was the first company to commercialize GSM technology in the form of a standard module, the WISMO, making wireless technology available to everyone. WISMO modules are compact devices that include all of the hardware, software and other technology needed to enable wireless communications over the GSM/GPRS, CDMA and future 3G networks.
WISMO modules enable any equipment or system to communicate without a fixed line connection. Applications include mobile telephones, automotive navigation and information systems, personal digital assistants with wireless communications functions, and machine-to-machine communication solutions.
Founded in 1993 and headquartered near Paris in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, Wavecom has subsidiaries in Hong Kong (PRC), Seoul (South Korea) and San Diego (USA). Company revenues totaled Euro 322.7 million in 2001 and Euro 415.7 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2002. Wavecom is publicly traded on Euronext Paris (Nouveau Marche) in France and on the NASDAQ National Market exchange in the U.S. For more information visit wavecom.com
About Alcatel
Alcatel designs, develops and builds innovative and competitive communications networks, enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver any type of content, such as voice, data and multimedia, to any type of consumer, anywhere in the world. Relying on its leading and comprehensive products and solutions portfolio, stretching from end-to-end optical infrastructures, fixed and mobile networks to broadband access, Alcatel's customers can focus on optimizing their service offerings and revenue streams. With sales of EURO 25 billion in 2001, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
About Alcatel's Evolium solutions
Alcatel is now the world's fastest growing GSM/GPRS supplier. Currently, over 110 mobile operators worldwide, including several customers in Latin & Central America, rely on Alcatel's Evolium™ GSM/GPRS 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 core and radio solutions. Backed by a strong worldwide services organization, Alcatel is one of the few companies able to execute turnkey projects, with solutions developed especially for the Latin American market. Alcatel manages all aspects of the project from site acquisition, civil construction and equipment installation to Operation and Maintenance (O&M). Quite recently, the set-up of a GSM Technical Assistance Center for Latin America in Brazil, reinforced Alcatel's strategy of building long-term partnership with its customers by providing local support to the new entrants, as well as the existing operators choosing the GSM technology as the evolution path to 3G.
By creating Evolium SAS, an Alcatel-Fujitsu company, Alcatel clearly reinforces its position in both mobile infrastructure and mobile Internet. Evolium SAS combines Alcatel's expertise in GSM, GPRS, and EDGE as well as in ATM and IP technologies, with the advanced experience of Fujitsu as supplier of NTT DoCoMo., the world's leading mobile communications company with more than 40 million customers. Alcatel's UMTS solutions are a reality today, with 20 UMTS pilot networks in operation or planned to be delivered by Alcatel in Europe and in Asia by end-2002. Alcatel, which played a vital part in developing the mobile Internet market, in particular through the successful roll out of GPRS commercial networks world-wide, has today a timely UMTS offering.
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