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Alcatel and Fujitsu Officially Open a FOMA Showroom in France
-- Experience live 3G FOMA services at Alcatel's premises in Paris --
Paris and Tokyo, January 20, 2004 -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Fujitsu Limited today announced the official opening of a FOMA® showroom showcasing NTT DoCoMo's third-generation (3G) FOMA mobile communication services in France. The new facility is located in the premises of Alcatel, Fujitsu's 3G partner, in the suburbs of Paris. This is the only FOMA showroom available in France.
This showroom enables visitors to directly access NTT DoCoMo's groundbreaking FOMA network and experience the world's first commercial 3G end-user services based on W-CDMA technology. To achieve this, Alcatel and Fujitsu, who jointly operate the Paris FOMA showroom, connected this facility to the FOMA network in Japan through an international private line. Fujitsu has provided the FOMA handsets and base station.
By offering industry opinion leaders the opportunity to experience live FOMA 3G services, the project is meant to foster a better understanding of business opportunities that could be generated by innovative 3G services, and it lays the ground for the successful introduction of 3G/UMTS commercial services in Europe. With this advanced facility, Alcatel is in an ideal position to leverage and extend the mobile multimedia services experience it has already gained through major customer projects and its world-wide network of 3G Reality Centres. 3GPP-compliant third-generation systems are developed by Evolium SAS, a joint venture company established by Alcatel and Fujitsu.
A wealth of feature-rich 3G services, already enjoyed by NTT DoCoMo's subscribers in Japan, are available in the Paris-based FOMA showroom: i-mode® , i-appli®, Multi-access and Internet access on PC (see details below*). In addition, the showroom will feature international mobile video telephony between FOMA users in France and UMTS ones in the UK.
"FOMA is the world's first commercial 3G mobile communications service based on W-CDMA technology," stated Dr. Kota Kinoshita, Executive Vice President and CTO, NTT DoCoMo, Inc. "Thanks to the Paris FOMA Showroom, French and European industry opinion leaders are now in the unique position to enjoy, in a real life situation, the state-of-the-art 3G FOMA mobile communications services as if they were in Japan. We are thankful to Fujitsu and Alcatel whose dedicated teamwork made the success of this project possible," Dr. Kinoshita added.
"Fujitsu is a major strategic partner of NTT DoCoMo for W-CDMA technology," stated Hiroaki Takeichi, Corporate Vice President, System Products Business Group (Telecommunications) of Fujitsu Limited. "Fujitsu's strategy is to provide quality network and IT solutions to its customers, in particular to NTT DoCoMo. Building upon the success of Evolium SAS, the Alcatel-Fujitsu joint venture for 3G infrastructure, the implementation of the Paris FOMA Showroom is yet another foundation of the important business potential generated by our W-CDMA collaboration with Alcatel," Takeichi added.
"Alcatel's mobile strategy is driven by end-user services," stated Marc Rouanne, Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel's mobile activities. "For Europeans, this FOMA Showroom is an invaluable window on DoCoMo's advanced services. It will allow us to further increase our knowledge and understanding of end-users' experience with mobile multimedia services, in complement to our 3G Reality Centres program, with the overall objective to accelerate the delivery of appealing 3G services," Rouanne concluded.
Alcatel's highly efficient business model is based on its multi-standard EvoliumTM solutions for GSM (800/900/1800/1900 MHz), GPRS, EDGE and UMTS. Evolium SAS, Alcatel's joint venture with Fujitsu, delivers a mobile infrastructure that is 3GPP-compliant, field-proven and capitalizes on the Japanese 3G experience.
*Available services:
- i-mode® (a high-speed packet transmission service at speeds of up to 384 kbps),
- i-appli® (an application service that uses Java programs),
- i-motionTM (a service that offers short audio and video content),
- i-motionTM mail (a video mail service that sends video clips with sound to other FOMA terminals and PCs),
- M-stage® V-LiveTM (a video streaming service that transmits a variety of live and archived video content using circuit switched 64 kbps data transmission),
- M-stage Visual Net (a videophone service that can accommodate up to eight people),
- Multi-access (a service that can simultaneously handle voice call and packet communications),
- Internet access on PC (high-speed packet transmission at up to packet switched 384 kbps and circuit switched 64 kbps).
FOMA, i-mode, i-motion, and i-motion mail are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries. M-stage is a registered trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan. V-Live is a trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan. i-appli is a trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries. FOMA, i-mode, i-motion mail, M-Stage, V-Live and i-appli services are only available to subscribers in Japan.
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 to their employees. Alcatel leverages its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to bring value to its customers in the framework of a broadband world. With sales of EURO 16.5 billion in 2002, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit us on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com.
About Evolium SAS
Evolium SAS is a joint venture between Alcatel (66%) and Fujitsu (34%) and has a task force of 1700 engineers. Evolium SAS combines Alcatel's expertise in GSM, GPRS, and EDGE as well as in ATM and IP technologies, with the advanced experience of Fujitsu as supplier of NTT DoCoMo. The mission of Evolium SAS is to define and develop future-generation mobile network systems. Thanks to its GSM 800, 900, 1800 and 1900MHz solutions, and to Alcatel's Evolium multi-standard concept, the Evolium SAS portfolio can offer operators rapid evolution opportunities towards GPRS, EDGE and UMTS through GSM technology
About Fujitsu
Fujitsu is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and communications solutions for the global marketplace. Pace-setting technologies, highly reliable computing and telecommunications platforms, and a worldwide corps of systems and services experts uniquely position Fujitsu to deliver comprehensive solutions that open up infinite possibilities for its customers' success. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.6 trillion yen (US$38 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003. For more information, visit http://www.fujitsu.com/.
All company/product names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are used for identification purpose only.
Please understand that product prices, specifications and other details are current on the day of issue of the press release, however, may change thereafter without notice.
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