PLANO, Texas, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that NTELOS (NASDAQ:NTLS), a U.S.-based integrated communications provider, has selected Alcatel's Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture (TPSDA) for a triple play trial in Virginia. This network architecture will enable NTELOS to enrich its service offerings by delivering high-speed Internet, IPTV and Voice over IP via bandwidth-rich fiber access. By enhancing its network with Alcatel's TPSDA, NTELOS can significantly boost the quality of experience for the consumer, increase revenue per user with feature-rich and user-driven offerings, and maximize network efficiency to control operating expenses. NTELOS is the most established wholesale fiber provider in its region and currently reaches 90 percent of its ILEC footprint with broadband DSL access. "Our primary goal is to better serve our customers, and we do this by constantly assessing how to improve and expand our services to meet their needs," said Glenn Butler, director of Technology Planning and Switch Engineering for NTELOS. "Alcatel demonstrated they have a well-thought-out architecture and the end-to-end network components needed to offer these services. The Alcatel TPSDA provides the right service set, management and operational scalability to allow NTELOS to deploy fiber-based services effectively." Alcatel's TPSDA spans access, IP/Ethernet routing and aggregation, and end-to-end service-aware management. NTELOS will use the Alcatel 7342 Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) Fiber-to-the-User (FTTU) system, Alcatel 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS), and Alcatel 7750 Service Router to offer advanced voice, data and video services to its residential customers. End-to-end element, network and service management will be provided by the Alcatel 5526 Access Management System (AMS) and 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM). In addition to the Alcatel 7342 GPON solution, NTELOS will be testing the Alcatel 7330 ISAM Fiber-to-the-Node (FTTN) product for delivery of high speed DSL services within its operating area. "We are pleased to partner with NTELOS to enable the provision of superior communications services to Virginia subscribers," said Hubert de Pesquidoux, president of Alcatel's North American activities. "This shows that our TPSDA can cost efficiently scale to meet service price, performance and penetration requirements of operators of varying size and scope. Based on our growing expertise in triple play service deployments and the proven capabilities of our portfolio, NTELOS customers can look forward to exciting new services." Alcatel is involved in more than 40 triple play projects worldwide, and projects that the number of IPTV subscribers will grow to more than 70 million by 2010. Alcatel has shipped more than 86 million DSL lines worldwide, and its broadband access solutions are prominent in the networks of over 180 service providers. More than 90 customers worldwide have deployed the ISAM product family since its launch in September 2004. According to Synergy Research Group, Alcatel is #2 in the Services Edge Router category in Q1 2006, with 18% market share, following four consecutive quarters of market share gain. About NTELOS NTELOS Holdings Corp. is an integrated communications provider with headquarters in Waynesboro, VA. NTELOS provides products and services to customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Maryland and North Carolina, including wireless phone service, local and long distance telephone services, and data services for internet access and wide area networking. Detailed information about NTELOS is available at http://www.ntelos.com/. 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 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com/ DATASOURCE: Alcatel CONTACT: Tracy Dupree, +1-818-878-4408, or , or Alcatel Investor Relations, Pascal Bantegnie, +33-0-1-40-76-52-20, or , or Nicolas Leyssieux, +33-0-1-40-76-37-32, or , or Maria Alcon, +33-0-1-40-76-15-17, or , or Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane, +1-703-668-7016, or ; or NTELOS Press Contact, Mike Minnis, Director, Public Relations, +1-540-946-7290, or Web site: http://www.alcatel.com/ http://www.ntelos.com/

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