This Alcatel-Lucent Turkey center of expertise will initially employ 62 Turkish engineers with the total number of employees to reach 100 within a year.

“Turkey has a great potential in terms of technical know-how and qualified workforce. The Turkish engineers take part in successful projects all over the world. With  the opening of the 61st R&D center certified by Turkey’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, Alcatel-Lucent is more  than  ever ready to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Turkey in terms of advanced technology and engineering resources,” said Luis Martinez-Amago, President of Alcatel-Lucent's activities in the CIS, Central and Southern Europe.“We have established an active operating facility, consistent with Turkish law, within our structure. Through this center, we are aiming to increase Turkey’s contributions to Alcatel-Lucent’s global success.”

“The Alcatel-Lucent R&D center illustrates the dynamism of Turkey that attracts more and more overseas businesses. We are delighted that, once again, ISPAT has helped pave the way for strategic and high value-added investments, and has offered its knowledge and experience to optimize Alcatel-Lucent’s business. We are carefully looking to multiply the coordination with several ministries like Industry and Trade, Transportation, Finance, etc. to fine tune the support schemes for technology and engineering centers, according to the potential investors’ needs,” Said Alpaslan Korkmaz, President of ISPAT.

The Alcatel-Lucent R&D center in Turkey will play a substantial role in the developement and testing of some of Alcatel-Lucent’s most innovative product offerings for service providers, such as small cells (femto cells), IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), Pre/Post-Paid Mobile Payment Development, touchatag™ products and services and Smart Metering solutions.

About Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT)

ISPAT is a governmental organization that mainly provides all relevant services to overseas businesses that want to invest and locate in Turkey. The Agency’s extensive range of specialized services are designed to address the specific needs of individual businesses to enable them maximize their international success. ISPAT provides the international investors with all the updated information required for setting up or expanding a business in Turkey. By optimizing conditions for the business projects of international investors, ISPAT offers services that add value in a number of key areas. For more information please visit www.invest.gov.tr .

About Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation,  and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com