Alcatel Honored for 'Best M&A Strategy' at Light Reading's Leading Lights Awards

Alcatel Honored for 'Best M&A Strategy' at Light Reading's Leading Lights Awards

PARIS, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP.PA) today announced that it has been recognized as having the industry's best "Mergers & Acquisitions" strategy by Light Reading. According to Light Reading, "The Best M&A Strategy" Award is presented to the public company that has, "consistently demonstrated good timing, judgment and execution in high-profile acquisitions." The award was presented last night at a dinner following Light Reading's Telecom Investment Conference in New York City.

Light Reading chose Alcatel as the recipient of this award based on several acquisitions that have significantly enhanced the company's position in strategic markets such as IP Routing, Mobile and Video. These acquisitions have included iMagic TV (February 2003), PacketVideo (November 2003), eDial (September 2004), Spatial Wireless (September 2004) and TiMetra (May 2003) which, according to Light Reading provided Alcatel with the IP routing expertise necessary to win the "monster contract with SBC."

"As a global leader in the telecommunications market, we have a strong commitment to our customers to constantly enhance our portfolio of products -- both organically and through acquisition -- so that we can continue to provide them with 'leap frog' solutions that help them achieve their business objectives," said Niel Ransom, CTO of Alcatel. "We are honored to be recognized by Light Reading for the success of this commitment which we feel has produced the industry's most comprehensive end-to-end portfolio of products and solutions."

The Light Reading Leading Light Awards honor top public and private telecom equipment and services companies and their executives for their outstanding achievements in the telecommunications industry.

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 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 12.5 billion in 2003, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.

For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com/ .

Photo: Newscom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031111/ALALOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Alcatel

CONTACT: press, Charlie Guyer, +1-978-257-3490, or
charlie.guyer@alcatel.com , or investor relations, Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane,
+1-703-668-3571, or charlotte.laurent-ottomane@alcatel.com , both of Alcatel

Web site: http://www.alcatel.com/


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