Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes calls on telecoms industry to accelerate adoption of business models that balance quality with revenue generation

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 23, 2013 – Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), will today expand further on The Shift Plan, the company’s industrial repositioning as a specialist in IP Networking and Ultra-Broadband Access, by calling on telecommunications operators to adopt business models that strike the right balance between providing quality-of-experience and generating sustainable profitability for players in the value chain.

In his keynote speech today at Futurecom 2013, Mr Combes will cite the rapid growth of broadband in Latin America as an example of how operators of fixed access and mobile networks need to adapt their business models and to drive revenues and deliver the optimum end-user experience.

Mr Combes will say: “I believe strongly that our industry must develop a business model that enables operators to both profitably expand the capacity of their networks and deliver the quality of services and experience that users expect.”

He will also highlight how The Shift Plan - Alcatel-Lucent’s own industrial transformation to become a specialist in IP Networking and Ultra-Broadband Access - is designed to support operators as they adopt IP and cloud-based technologies, and launch next-generation fixed and mobile access services.

“Throughout the world operators and service providers are proactively seeking technologies to help them balance the need for capacity and delivering high quality services with protecting their own balance sheets,” Mr Combes will state.

“The Shift Plan revolves around focusing our innovation around this new reality. By 2015, 85% of our total R&D investment will be represented by IP Networking and Ultra-Broadband Access. This is a strategic decision to become a technology vendor for the marketplace of tomorrow, a market populated by customers who themselves are moving to more efficient and more profitable business models, adopting new technologies like cloud, SDN [software defined networking] and NFV [network functions virtualization] in the process.”

In Latin America, Mr Combes will note, penetration of ultra-broadband access technologies – especially mobile – is outpacing other parts of the world. According to recent figures from the ITU there are almost as many mobile subscriptions as there are people in the world, and growing annually by 20%.

“In Latin America, mobile penetration is at 130% and rising, with fixed broadband penetration close to 60%,” Mr Combes will highlight. “This is good news when you consider how these numbers affect socio-economic development. In Latin America, for example, a 10% increase in broadband penetration can be linked to a 3% increase in GDP, on average, and a 2% boost in productivity overall”.

ABOUT ALCATEL-LUCENT (EURONEXT PARIS AND NYSE: ALU)

Alcatel-Lucent is at the forefront of global communications, providing products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service providers and their customers, enterprises and institutions throughout the world.

Underpinning Alcatel-Lucent in driving the industrial transformation from voice telephony to high-speed digital delivery of data, video and information is Bell Labs, an integral part of Alcatel-Lucent and one of the world’s foremost technology research institutes, responsible for countless breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Alcatel-Lucent innovations have resulted in the company being recognized by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 Global Innovator, as well as being named by MIT Technology Review as amongst 2012’s Top 50 “World’s Most Innovative Companies”. Alcatel-Lucent has also been recognized for innovation in sustainability, being named Industry Group Leader for Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review for making global communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, all in pursuit of the company’s mission to realize the potential of a connected world.

With revenues of Euro 14.4 billion in 2012, Alcatel-Lucent is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges (Euronext and NYSE: ALU). The company is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

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.