Orascom Telecom and Alcatel-Lucent Celebrate 10 years of cooperation

Orascom Telecom and Alcatel-Lucent celebrated today 10 years of cooperation; the festive event took place at Manial Palace in Cairo. The two companies have cooperated together in various countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and South Asia. Starting with the launch of the first GSM network in Cairo-Egypt in 1998, Alcatel-Lucent and Orascom Telecom have worked together to advance telecommunications in the Middle East and worldwide to serve OTH current “61 plus” million subscribers.

Leveraging on Alcatel-Lucent leadership and worldwide expertise in telecommunications, Alcatel-Lucent and Orascom will continue to work together for the development of latest technologies that will offer their customers a seamless and integrated broadband user-centric experience across all devices and platforms.

ALCATEL-LUCENT & ORASCOM TELECOM

At a glance

• More than a supplier/vendor relationship – a true long-term strategic partnership
• Started since 1998 with the inception of Mobinil in Egypt
• Working together in Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Italy and Greece

Market Information
Alcatel-Lucent has been Orascom Telecom’s strategic partner since the very beginning of their activities, and has greatly contributed to their development in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Alcatel-Lucent’s direct financial support, combined with strong backup from the French Export Credit Agency (COFACE), was instrumental in supporting Orascom Telecom’s international expansion plans. Joint success has been underpinned by very strong operational support. Indeed, Alcatel-Lucent has adapted its local organization to reflect Orascom Telecom’s organization, with strong centralized commercial support in Egypt, and dedicated program teams in the different countries.
Today, Alcatel-Lucent is Orascom Telecom’s largest supplier in its major markets, providing legacy core network and value-added services in Algeria, Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan, and is its main radio access provider in Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, with a significant and growing market share in Pakistan. Alcatel-Lucent also supplies Orascom Telecom with transmission equipment in Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan.
Alcatel-Lucent relationship with Orascom Telecom has grown over the years, moving from a traditional supplier/vendor relationship to our current position of ‘strategic partner’, which sees us working with OT, to provide them latest technologies that will offer their customers a seamless and integrated broadband user-centric experience across all devices and platforms.

Principal Steps of the Collaboration

• Following the April 1998 acquisition of Telecom Egypt's GSM network by the ECMS (Egyptian Company for Mobile Services) consortium known as Mobinil, Alcatel signed on July 28th, 1998 a US$ 60 million frame agreement for the supply of GSM 900 infrastructure and services. France Telecom Mobiles International and Orascom, the private Egyptian conglomerate, are the two main shareholders of Mobinil.
• In March 2001, Mobinil and Alcatel signed a frame agreement for the extension of Mobinil GSM network in Egypt. This contract allowed Mobinil to extend their GSM network coverage using the latest switching and radio solutions. This project also included new generation mobile switches and radio equipment supporting GPRS technology.
• In July 2001, Orascom Telecom signed a Global Frame Agreement with Alcatel for the supply of integrated telecommunications solutions to its subsidiaries.
• In August 2001, Alcatel and Orascom Telecom Holding announced that they have signed a contract for the delivery of a significant portion of a new nationwide GSM network in Algeria. This contract is the first execution of the Global Frame Agreement signed between in July 2001 and is further enhancing their ongoing collaboration in the region. The network is a true success. It will allow Orascom Telecom Algeria to offer enhanced mobile data services to several million of subscribers.
• In May 2002, Alcatel and Orascom Telecom Tunisia announced that they have signed a 5-year contract for the delivery of a new nation-wide GSM 900/1800 MHz network in Tunisia. The network will enable Orascom Telecom Tunisia to offer enhanced mobile voice and data services to over 500.000 subscribers.
• In April 2003,Alcatel announced that it has signed a contract with Mobilink (Pakistan Mobile communications), the leading GSM provider in Pakistan and subsidiary of Orascom, to increase by one million subscribers the capacity of their GSM 900MHz network. The new network, will enable Mobilink to offer enhanced mobile voice and data services to end users nation-wide
• In February 2004, Alcatel and Orascom Telecom announced the launch of the first commercial GSM network in the Central region of Iraq including Baghdad.
• In July 2004, Alcatel announced that the mobile network it has deployed for Orascom Télécom Algérie, Algeria's leading mobile operator, has enabled the operator to not only register its 2 millionth subscriber and deploy the multimedia GPRS mobile services it is launching, but also to introduce the first broadband EDGE (Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution) services ever provided on the African continent.
• In February, 2005, Alcatel was selected by ARPU Telecom Services ("ARPU+") a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holding to supply Alcatel's Mobile Kiosk Service, which enables content aggregation and service delivery in a hosted-and-operated mode. Alcatel's solution will be used by ARPU+ to build mobile multimedia portals that provide value-added services such as video and multimedia messaging for Orascom Telecom's subsidiaries Mobilink in Pakistan and Djezzy in Algeria.
• In April 2005, Alcatel announced that it will be deploying a new, turnkey submarine cable network for Orascom Telecom, Scheduled for service in the second Half of 2005, the new submarine cable network will connect Marseille to Algiers and Annaba spanning nearly 1,300 km and further improving the connectivity between Algeria, France, European and all international networks
• In September 2007, Alcatel-Lucent announced a turnkey contract with Mobinil, Egypt’s leading mobile operator. This contract covers wireless and convergence solutions that will further improve the quality of Mobinil’s network and extend its coverage throughout the country, bringing mobile services to a greater number of people
• In September 20, 2007, Alcatel-Lucent and Mobinil, the leading mobile operator in Pakistan announced today that they have signed a contract to participate in deploying Pakistan’s first live network based on the Universal 802.16e-2005 WiMAX solution. The network will cover major cities in Pakistan, including Karachi, the nation’s financial capital and the major business center.
• In October 22, 2007, Alcatel-Lucent signed a turnkey contract with Orascom Telecom to provide the Mediterranean Sea segment of a new 3,850 km submarine cable network, named Middle East North Africa (MENA). Positioning Egypt as a central hub for traffic transit across Europe, Middle East and Asia, the new submarine network will connect Egypt to Italy and will provide an added-value vehicle to support the increased broadband communications in the region.
As a long-term partner, Alcatel-Lucent has accompanied Orascom Telecom in its development, providing flexible services and solutions based on cutting-edge technologies. Alcatel-Lucent is now committed to proactively anticipating a second wave of expansion to introduce added-value services, as well as optimized basic mobile and broadband services, to a wider population through network transformation based on latest technologies as IP, WiMAX.