Alcatel's New One Touch Easy DB Goes Hi-style; New GSM Range Underlines Leadership in Consumer Design.

HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 1999--Nine new colours, a smaller more contoured shape, only 135 grams with a super light battery (Li Ion), a pleasant and handy feel are only the visible attributes of Alcatel's (NYSE:ALA) new One Touch(TM) EASY DB range on display at Hannover's CeBit exhibition. There's even more going on inside: all terminals are now dual band, have improved audio qualities and the hands-free feature sets the user free.

Alcatel's best-selling, high volume, popular GSMs now provide a degree of user comfort and versatility usually only available in terminals at twice their price. They situate their users on the crest of the wave.

"The One Touch(TM) EASY has become the leading GSM for the consumer market thanks to several factors: its lively, colourful design, its technical qualities, its reliability, its ease of use, and its accessible price," says Patrick Liot, President of Alcatel Professional and Consumer Division. "The new generation with its fashionable design should further strengthen its appeal throughout the fast-growing global consumer market of women and younger adults we are targeting."

Dual band improves call success rate and quality. New design and components guarantee superior sound reproduction and quality so that mobile calls match the quality of fixed line calls. And the hands free feature, now generalised across the new One Touch(TM) range, means family and friends can share in a conversation when appropriate but intimacy can be restored at the touch of a button.

Atoll Blue, Ultramarine, Yellow Dune, Red Tonic, White Snow, Storm Blue, Havana Brown, Grey and Jungle Green are the names of the fashion co-ordinated colours that were selected by a world-wide panel to provide maximum market appeal and satisfaction. One reason for the perennial dreary black phones is that they're as safe in Hong Kong and Sydney as they are in London.

Alcatel colours, on the other hand, research has shown, will be as exciting in Munich and Ibiza as they are in Istanbul, Mumbai or Paris. There are colours for men, darker, stronger, more discreet -- and colours for women, livelier, trendier but still blendable. Couples can get his and her phones and be coordinated. So can the rest of the family.

The size, weight (the EASY tips the scales at just 135 to 150 grams depending on battery) and shape improvements that Alcatel have brought to the 1999 One Touch(TM) EASY DB range are important but without exaggeration (DB denotes the dual band capability). If a terminal gets too small, it's hard to use. If it's too light or, because of its shape, it sits uneasily in the hand, it's equally awkward. Alcatel's design has struck the right balance.

Full features and accessories

Alcatel's One Touch(TM) EASY DB range has the usual easy-to-use controls to access terminal functions and operator GSM services. The range also has a choice of power sources including a super power battery (Li Ion) that provides up to 160 hours autonomy as well as a battery clip for three AAA batteries for when users leave home without their charger. Other standard accessories include a car kit, mini-desktop and cigar lighter chargers and antenna kits. To avoid the embarrassment of a howling terminal in hushed room, the terminal can be equipped with a vibrator. For a woman whose terminal is usually at the bottom of her handbag, an independent vibrator, worn as a broach, can signal incoming calls.

In countries where dual band networks are not available, Alcatel will supply the new models in both single band and dual band configurations.

The One Touch(TM) EASY DB will be available from Alcatel retailers from May 1999. It combines the latest technological requirements and user features for a go-anywhere, do-anything GSM terminal with a strong sense of fashion and modernity. It will appeal to the less conventional, more outgoing sort of user. The new range should easily duplicate the success of its predecessor.

Others members of the One Touch(TM) family will be launched in this new format and design in the coming months. The One Touch(TM) CLUB, One Touch(TM) VIEW and exciting One Touch(TM) MAX will all be available in the smaller, slimmer, handier style, in an expanded range of colours, all respecting their different personalities. Specific launch dates by country will be announced later.

Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 21.3 billion ($25.0 billion), Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on Internet: http:/www.alcatel.com.

Note to the Editors:

Dual band advantages in a few words

Who needs dual band? More and more mobile users are finding that reception quality is dropping off, calls connect less frequently and disconnect more frequently? Why is this? Networks are often momentarily saturated: 70,000 fans leave a football stadium and 30% of them suddenly start calling their friends: the overloaded network cell crashes. The same thing happens many evenings as office workers leave work, get into their cars to drive home and call wives, girlfriends, their grandmothers or buddies to set up their evening's entertainment. Temporary overload causes reception and quality problems and if your network doesn't currently suffer from these problems, mobile growth is such that it soon will.

The issue is bandwidth. Most GSMs operate at 900 Mhz and there's getting to be a shortage of space to deal with all the calls. As a result, many countries have assigned a second bandwidth, 1800 MHz, to deal with the overflow. Trouble is most GSMs were designed to function at either 900 or 1800 MHz.

Today, the more advanced DB terminals work at both so the network operator can shift the calls from one bandwidth to another depending on traffic volumes and bandwidth availability from one cell to another. And the switching happens automatically without anyone ever noticing. The terminal user can just keep talking.

Note to Editors: Alcatel, One Touch, WebTouch, Speed Touch and HomeTop are trademarks of Alcatel or its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.