Europe : Alcatel has been chosen by Telecom Serbia, the Serbian incumbent operator for a UMTS network field trial. Once completed, this field trial will pave the way for the commercial launch of Telecom Serbia's new end-user 3G/UMTS services in the coming years.

In the framework of this field trial, Alcatel will supply and deploy Telecom Serbia's full UMTS Radio Access Network (UTRAN), including UMTS Multi-standard Base Stations (Node Bs), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), and the UMTS Operation & Maintenance Centre for Radio (UMTS OMC-R). In addition, Alcatel will provide Telecom Serbia with full technical support for the whole test period duration.

The Serbian operator will be able to test UMTS services from the second quarter of 2004, covering the area of Novi Sad, in the North of the country.

This new contract reinforces the long-term partnership between Telecom Serbia and Alcatel, also on the mobile network. In fact, Alcatel is providing Telecom Serbia with the state-of-the art solutions in fixed communications, such as switching, transmission, IP and ADSL access network. Recently, it has also been announced the expansion of national voice network, with an additional 500,000 telephone lines.

"Telecom Serbia aims at providing the customers with the most advanced services, by keeping the pace with technology evolution and optimizing investments and operational costs. Alcatel was chosen as a partner because of its wealth of knowledge and expertise for deploying UMTS technology and its long-lasting experience with Telecom Serbia. " declared Mr. Drasko Petrovic general manager of Telecom Serbia.

"This new agreement further strengthens Alcatel's partnership with Telecom Serbia, one of the most active operators in the area," added Marc Rouanne, Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel's mobile activities. This contract not only demonstrates our commitment to the Serbian operator's business and technological needs, but also reinforces Alcatel's strong position in the whole Balkan region, both for fixed and mobile technologies."

Alcatel is the world's fastest growing mobile player and is today a leader in 3G/UMTS solutions, leveraging its global network of 3G Reality Centres, an ecosystem designed to test, validate and develop 2.5G and 3G applications with the aim of accelerating the 3G development globally.

Alcatel has a unique commitment to network evolution, through its Evolium SAS joint venture with Fujitsu, which supplies industry leader NTT DoCoMo. This world-class multi-standard platform designed for GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 3G/UMTS is re-engineered every 9 months for continuous cost reduction and technology evolution.