DALLAS, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP.PA) today announced that it led in market revenue for point-to-point microwave radio sales in North America for the first quarter of 2006 with 33% of revenue in the region, according to Skylight Research. The lead in market deployments comes as Alcatel's strong momentum in delivering mission critical microwave communications networks continues with cellular operators, and is accelerating rapidly in the public safety sector. Microwave radio technology is a natural choice for the critical infrastructure used in public safety solutions to improve data transmission and quality of service, enabling faster emergency response and increased public safety for local communities. "Alcatel has always been a leader in microwave radio communications and our number one market share validates our recent successes with such customers as Hampton Roads and the state of New York," said Tom Eggemeier, vice president and general manager for Alcatel's wireless transmission activities in North America. "Alcatel's wireless product portfolio provides a highly reliable and secure architecture that delivers greater efficiencies to the people it serves." "The trend in the microwave radio market in North America has continued to evolve with the revival in wireless communications spending, and companies like Alcatel are leveraging this movement with new product introductions and strategic customer wins," said Emmy Johnson, Founder and principal analyst at Sky Light Research. "Their historically strong position in North America coupled with the introduction of the Alcatel 9500 MXC* earlier this year, enables Alcatel to addresses the complex and dynamic technology needs of their customers, while keeping capital and operational costs to a minimum." Alcatel is the world's leading manufacturer of microwave transmission equipment, with more than one-half million microwave radios delivered worldwide. Alcatel's robust portfolio of point-to-point wireless transmission solutions include low, medium and high capacity microwave radios for voice, video and data (IP, ATM, Fast Ethernet) communications. With more than 50 years in the industry, Alcatel delivers solutions for both enterprises and a variety of communications providers across many industries, including Tier I/II/III cellular operators, state and local governments, utilities, and satellite radio operators among others. Supporting a full range of frequency bands and network configurations, Alcatel's wireless transmission systems are managed by a unified and fully integrated network management platform, as well as through the simplified network management protocol (SNMP). * The Alcatel 9500 MXC (Microwave Cross Connect) is a new generation digital, medium-high capacity, point-to-point microwave radio solution. Thanks to its flexible platform, it supports PDH, SDH/SONET, Ethernet interfaces and node configuration, providing an effective solution for high capacity applications, addressing transmission needs for public and private telecommunication networks. About Alcatel's public safety solutions Alcatel is a leading provider of critical communications infrastructure solutions for public safety for local, state and federal government. With more than 50 years of experience in this sector, Alcatel's mission critical solutions portfolio provides a wide range of applications including unified communications, Voice over IP, Wireless LAN, digital microwave, MPLS networking, Multi-service Sonet and LAN switching. Alcatel's public safety solutions improves security and redundancy to customers critical communications infrastructures, enhances disaster recovery systems, and creates greater operational efficiencies all while delivering highly reliable, scalable network architecture to accommodate future applications. Learn more about Alcatel's mission critical communications solutions for public safety at http://www.usa.alcatel.com/industries/stateandlocal/solutions/public_safety.html . 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 brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com/ . DATASOURCE: Alcatel CONTACT: media, Tracy Dupree, +1-818-878-4408, or , or investor relations, Pascal Bantegnie, +33-0-1-40-76-52-20, or , or Nicolas Leyssieux, +33-0-1-40-76-37-32, or , or Maria Alcon, +33-0-1-40-76-15-17, or , or Charlotte Laurent- Ottomane, +1-703-668-7016, or , all of Alcatel Web site: http://www.alcatel.com/

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