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NEW MEDITERRANEAN UNDERSEA LINK TO ALCATEL, PIRELLI AND TYCO

Paris, 18 February 1998 - A consortium formed by Alcatel, Pirelli Cables and Systems SpA, and Tyco Submarine Systems Limited, has won a contract for US$66 million for a new undersea telecommunications system in the Mediterranean.

The contract for the project has been awarded by Med-1, an Israeli company, comprising a consortium of international operators and of local businesses, set up specifically to build this new undersea system.

The 2600 km network, which will link Mazara on the island of Sicily, Italy, with Tel Aviv, Israel, and which will include a branch to Yeroskipos, Cyprus, is planned for completion in early November 1998. The project is called 'Lev', in memory of Gideon Lev, the previous Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Communications and the initiator of the project.

With the continuing increases in traffic growth, caused primarily by the explosion in data traffic, the design of the Lev system utilises the full flexibility of undersea fibre optic transmission.

Operating in the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) over two fibre pairs, the system has been configured from the outset to be upgradeable using the new technology of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) which will allow several wavelengths, each operating at 2.5 Gbit/s, to be carried on the same fibre.

The Lev system has been designed to operate at eight wavelengths on each fibre pair.

One pair will be used for the transmission of data, video and voice traffic while the other will be used for protection. The network will have a basic capacity of 20 Gbit/s - equivalent to nearly 250,000 simultaneous telephone conversations.

The new link will give Israel direct access to the SEA-ME-WE 3 network between Asia, Australia and Western Europe, currently under construction, as well as to Columbus-2 across the Atlantic and to the recently contracted high-capacity Columbus-3 network.

Alcatel, the Telecom sector of Alcatel Alsthom, designs, manufactures, and markets complete telecommunications systems. Activities include fixed switching networks, transmission systems, access systems, mobile communications infrastructure, business networking, submarine cable networks, as well as radiocommunications, space, and defense systems. With operations in over 130 countries, Alcatel is a leading-edge supplier in the majority of its business. In 1997, the Telecom segment of Alcatel Alsthom registered total sales of FF 83 billion. For more information, visit Alcatel via the web.