BT selects Alcatel as prime contractor for Project Bluephone



Paris, -/May 24, 2004 Wi-Fi Technology News/- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) announced that it has been selected as the prime contractor for BT's Bluephone project, a groundbreaking venture which will see Europe's first launch of a service which offers the consumer one phone with one number for all calls.

This fully converged fixed-mobile communication service will be developed by Alcatel together with its consortium of partners. Alcatel will work with BT to provide their customers the ability to use just one phone to roam across both fixed and mobile networks accessing a range of converged broadband services.

Bluephone, the working name that BT has assigned to the project, will enable both residential and business users to derive the benefits of having a single telephone number to make and receive calls wherever they are. When users are within 25 meters of their Bluetooth base station, the phone will carry all incoming and outgoing traffic over the fixed line. In larger sites such as offices, multiple access points will be used for greater scale. When users move outside the range of the Bluetooth base station, the handset acts as a standard mobile phone carrying traffic over a GSM mobile network. The service will result in fixed network call rates for calls made within the range of the Bluetooth base station.

"Project Bluephone is a significant first step in driving fixed-mobile convergence to the handset, not just for BT but for the telecoms industry as a whole," said Pierre Danon CEO of BT Retail. "The ability to offer a seamless user experience, regardless of device or network, is a key part of our Convergence vision that Alcatel is helping us deliver to our customers."

"Our research shows that end-users value simple and unified services, they just have too many communication devices that simply don't interact. By merging our mobile and fixed worlds, service providers are positioning themselves for the future," said Alan Mottram, President of Alcatel's fixed solutions activities. "BT recognizes this trend and is striving to integrate converged applications and services around its users regardless of the access network. Alcatel and BT are moving the industry closer than ever towards this point of putting the customer in the convergence driver's seat through this Bluephone initiative. This is a major milestone towards Alcatel's vision of enabling unified user-centric services."

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 to their employees. Alcatel leverages its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to bring value to its customers in the framework of a broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.5 billion in 2003, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.