CTIA Wireless, LAS VEGAS, March 31 /PRNewswire/ --

- Enables Service Providers Offer Broadband Services Everywhere, While Reducing Their Power Consumption and Carbon Footprint

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) has expanded its wireless networking portfolio to enable mobile service providers to offer both 3G CDMA and Long Term Evolution (LTE) services using a common network infrastructure. Alcatel-Lucent's innovative Converged RAN (radio access network) offerings support the delivery of a wide variety of new wireless broadband services while simultaneously reducing power consumption - and attendant carbon footprint -- and lowering operating costs.

Alcatel-Lucent's Converged RAN offerings build on Alcatel-Lucent's long-standing commitment to support multiple technology standards in a common base station platform, helping ensure that investments made today will be protected in the future as networks evolve. One of the key elements of the Converged RAN is the software defined radio (SDR) technology which has been available on the current Alcatel-Lucent base stations for a number of years already. The SDR enables CDMA service providers to deploy one technology today and then upgrade smoothly to a more advanced standard, such as LTE, in the future, or even introduce both technologies in the same existing base station simultaneously.

The latest addition to Alcatel-Lucent's Converged RAN portfolio is the Alcatel-Lucent 9238 Base Station Macro, a new platform that relies on the SDR which is integrated with the amplifiers to provide optimal power efficiency. The architecture enables CDMA and/or LTE baseband units to be mixed and matched in the same cabinet to support a variety of technology combinations. Multiple frequencies and frequency combinations will be supported in a single footprint, making the 9238 Base Station Macro an extremely flexible product that is ideally suited to help operators refresh and/or renovate their networks.

In addition to its flexibility and performance benefits, the new platform can dramatically reduce operational expenses. Through a combination of improved reliability, greatly reduced power consumption -- nearly 75 percent over earlier generations of equipment -- and use of common components to minimize the need for spares, the platform offers an array of cost benefits.

With the newest additions to our CDMA Converged Base Station portfolio, Alcatel-Lucent has demonstrated once again our unwavering commitment to giving our customers optimum flexibility as they expand and evolve their wireless broadband service offerings, said Sandy Motley, head of Alcatel-Lucent's CDMA/EV-DO activities. By providing a smooth evolution path to LTE, ensuring maximum re-use of equipment and dramatically reducing energy consumption, we also are helping our customers lower their carbon footprint while at the same time returning cash to their bottom line through reduced operating costs.

Key elements of Alcatel-Lucent's CDMA Converged Base Station portfolio are being demonstrated in the company's booth #6714 at the CTIA Wireless Tradeshow and Exhibition at the Las Vegas Convention center from April 1 - April 4.

About Alcatel-Lucent's Ultimate Wireless Broadband End-to-End solution:

The CDMA Converged Base Station portfolio is a fundamental pillar of Alcatel-Lucent's Ultimate Wireless Broadband End-to-End solution. This comprehensive solution enables wireless and converged services providers to advance their business, operational model and end-to-end network. It provides an end-to-end LTE network with a full set of LTE and IP products, transformation and integration services, plus the ng hConnect open ecosystem of devices, content and application partners. This solution brings Alcatel-Lucent's broadband and IP market leadership to deliver unprecedented scalability, quality of experience, business agility, and controlled network costs. For more information: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/lte

About Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 16.98 billion in 2008 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Alcatel-Lucent Press Contacts : Régine Coqueran, Tel: +33(0)1-40-76-49-24, regine.coqueran@alcatel-lucent.com; Kurt Steinert, Tel: +1-908-582-58-32, kurt.lsteinert@alcatel-lucent.com; Alcatel-Lucent Investor Relations : Rémi Thomas, Tel: +33(0)1-40-76-50-61, remi.thomas@alcatel-lucent.com ; Tom Bevilacqua, Tel: +1-908-582-7998, bevilacqua@alcatel-lucent.com; Tony Lucido, Tel: +33(0)1-40-76-49-80, alucido@alcatel-lucent.com; Don Sweeney, Tel: +1-908-582-6153, dsweeney@alcatel-lucent.com