Alcatel-Lucent to start construction of ACE undersea cable system’s next phase to improve broadband connectivity and digital services in Africa

November 23, 2015

5,000km Africa Coast to Europe system extension to South Africa from Sao Tomé-et-Principe will further improve cost-effective broadband supporting applications for education, healthcare and other e-services

PARIS, France, 23 November 2015,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, the undersea cables subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext and NYSE: ALU), is to roll out Phase II of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable system, a 5,000km extension from the Gulf of Guinea island of Sao Tomé-et-Principe to South Africa, that will further strengthen the role ACE is playing in critical infrastructure development in the continent.

Phase II of ACE will support the cost-effective delivery of broadband services and digital applications for education, healthcare and other e-services, reaching an additional 200 million people through this extension. It is notable that 13 of the 16 countries connected by the ACE are in Africa, and of those 13, seven were connected to the global Internet backbone for the first time by the cable system coming on-stream in December 2012. Phase II will link Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville and South Africa, including an extension to Cameroon.

This connectivity is being made possible by Alcatel-Lucent's 100 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/s) submarine technology, and on completion of the Phase II extension, the ACE system will deliver an overall design capacity of 12.8 Tbit/s, significantly speeding up delivery of broadband services and content.

Commenting on the project, Yves Ruggeri, Chairman of the ACE Management Committee said: “The extension of the ACE system to South Africa is a significant milestone that confirms our commitment to address the connectivity challenges facing Africa. ASN's know-how and technological innovations, which we have recently tested on our existing network, will support us in further developing direct connectivity within Africa and to the overall objective of ACE to reduce communication costs and drive social and economic growth in the continent.”

Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks said: “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with the ACE consortium, which dates back since the beginning of the project and demonstrates the consortium's trust in our ability to accompany them in their strategic implementations from end to end. This further development of the ACE system underlines the demand for bandwidth, to broaden opportunities in terms of connectivity, data and information sharing.”

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Alcatel-Lucent.

About ACE
ACE consortium, led by Orange, is composed of 19 operators, namely: Benin ACE GIE, Cable Consortium of Liberia, Canalink, Côte d'Ivoire Telecom, Dolphin Telecom, Guineenne de la Large Bande, Gambia Submarine Cable Company, International Mauritania Telecom, Orange Cameroun, Orange France, Orange Mali, Orange Niger, MEO, Republic of Cameroon, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB), Sonatel, SPIN (Gabon) and STP Cabo.. Phase I covered 11,500 km linking Sao Tomé and Principe to France – via Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Tenerife (Spain) and Portugal. Phase II will span more than 5,000 km, for an overall system distance of 17,000 km.

About Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks
Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks leads the industry in terms of capacity and installed base with more than 575,000 km of optical submarine cables/systems deployed worldwide. From traditional telecom to new Oil & Gas applications, ASN provides every part of a global undersea transmission network, all tailored to the customer's needs. An extensive service portfolio completes its comprehensive offering for the submarine business, including project management, installation and commissioning and marine operations and maintenance performed by its fleet of seven cable ships.

ABOUT ALCATEL-LUCENT (EURONEXT PARIS AND NYSE: ALU)
Alcatel-Lucent is the leading IP networking, ultra-broadband access and cloud technology specialist. We are dedicated to making global communications more innovative, sustainable and accessible for people, businesses and governments worldwide. Our mission is to invent and deliver trusted networks to help our customers unleash their value. Every success has its network. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter:http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

ALCATEL-LUCENT PRESS CONTACTS

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