PARIS, November 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been awarded a USD 48 million contract by Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company to expand and enhance the wireless communications services available through its Mobifone mobile network.

Mobifone, Vietnam's market leader in mobile communications, plans to offer an array of new services to meet the demands of its customers for more advanced communication capabilities in the fast-developing economy. The contract calls for Alcatel-Lucent to deploy more than 1,400 multi-standard base stations GSM/EDGE latest technology to improve voice and data services over the Mobifone network and to extend coverage and capacity throughout northern Vietnam. This upgrade will enable Mobifone to offer an enriched mobile phone services portfolio that will include content services, air-provisioning and other advanced services by the end of 2009.

Vietnamese consumers, especially its young adults, are becoming savvy users of communications technology and expect their mobile phone network to offer services that make it easier to stay in touch with their family, friends and business colleagues. Mobifone is investing heavily in its network to exceed its customers' expectations for reliable and innovative new services. The operator is upgrading the quality and range of value-added services offered, as well as providing the widest and most consistent coverage throughout the whole of Vietnam. The support provided by the long-term technology relationship with Alcatel-Lucent helps Mobifone maintain its ability to offer its consumers superior service throughout the country.

As the strategic technology partner of Mobifone since 1993, Alcatel-Lucent has worked hard to meet Mobifone's exacting standards as it strives to provide state-of-art service to its customers and we So we are delighted to be chosen again for their faith in our technology and expertise, said Raoul Ros, Alcatel-Lucent Vietnam Managing Director. Vietnam is an exciting market with a citizenship that eagerly embraces the benefits of top-notch communications technology. Alcatel-Lucent can deliver the world-class solutions that give consumers access to high-speed Internet, top-quality voice and data networks, more personalized services, mobile entertainment anytime-anywhere with ease.

Alcatel-Lucent will provide full turn-key services for the implementation of this major network upgrade for Mobifone, scheduled for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2009. The services include project management, installation and deployment as well as radio network engineering services. Alcatel-Lucent's multi-standard radio access solution are cost efficient as it helps operators such as Mobifone smoothly evolve toward W-CDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ by simple software upgrade, using the same radio equipment. The equipment also is designed to evolve easily to support IP-based services and LTE (Long Term Evolution), and can dramatically reduce operating costs because its innovative design reduces power consumption.

According to research conducted and released by Vietnam's Ministry of Communication earlier this year, Vietnam's mobile phone service providers grew to more than 48 million subscribers, 90 percent of which are pre-paid customers.(1) The subscriber number is expected to grow 23.5 percent year-over-year. To date, Mobifone has more than 13.5 million subscribers and in the second quarter of the year was ranked No. 1 by the Ministry of Communication of Vietnam in terms of quality of service.

Mobifone began offering mobile telephony service based on GSM technology 15 years ago, making it the first provider of GSM mobile telephony services in Vietnam. Mobifone intends to strengthen its competitive position by enhancing its network so it can offer a range of new and useful services. Some of these offerings will include:

- Mobile Entertainment - downloadable wallpapers, Funring, polyphonic tones, and java games - Mobile Messaging - Short Message Service (SMS), Multi Media Messaging (MMS) and email - Address book management - Over-the-air provisioning - Mobile chat - Mobile info service

Alcatel-Lucent is a leading player in the GSM/EDGE market with more than 185 customers in more than 95 countries

About Mobifone

The contingent of 3.000 MobiFone staff in ready to effectively meet every demand of customers. MobiFone is the first and exclusive mobile telephony services provider in Vietnam which is selected as of the best mobile phone telephony network in three consecutive years (from 2005-s007) in the Vietnam Mobile Awards Ceremony organized by E-chip Mobile Magazine, Especially in 2007, MobiFone was ranked at 20th in the List of 200 biggest Vietnamese enterprises held by UNDP.

About Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing solutions that 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 17.8 billion in 2007 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

(1) http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Alcatel-Lucent Press Contacts: Régine Coqueran, Tel: +33(0)1-40-76-49-24, regine.coqueran@alcatel-lucent.com; Mary Ward, Tel: +1-908-582-7658, mary.ward@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