Saturday, 13 June 2009

Alcatel-Lucent makes a difference in a Cambodian community

June 12th, 2009

Employee volunteer initiative is part of Alcatel-Lucent “International Days of Caring”

Phnom Penh / New Delhi, June 12, 2009 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE:ALU) set aside one day during a recent senior leadership conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to implement a major Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR)initiative. The 150 participants – across section of the company’s senior leaders in Asia Pacific – gave their time to build 45 houses for poor Cambodian families in Veal Thom village, outside of Phnom Penh.

The program is part of the Alcatel-Lucent “International Days of Caring” (IDOC) project, a worldwide employee volunteer initiative (May 4 – June 30, 2009) addressing key community needs and issues. IDOC provides an opportunity for staff to be directly engaged in local community work to help those in need.

The initiative was organized in conjunction with Tabitha Cambodia, a non-profit organization set up in 1994. Tabitha helps poor Cambodian families participate in a micro-banking program that helps them work their way out of poverty. When local families save USD30 toward a new home they are eligible to participate in Tabitha’s house building program. In this case, Alcatel-Lucent Asia Pacific provided all the additional funds, around USD960 per house, to purchase the building materials for 45 houses, as well as one day of senior staff time to build fully funded houses for 45 families, or some 240 individuals.

“We chose Tabitha because they gave us an opportunity to get involved and make a difference through the work of our own hands,” said Sean Dolan, President, Alcatel-Lucent Asia Pacific. “At Alcatel-Lucent Corporate Social Responsibility means more than acting ethically, it also means providing opportunities for our employees to become involved and demonstrate day after day, the company’s concern for society.”

The Cambodian project caps a range of Asia Pacific staff community activities that include:

· Australia: employees serving as guides during open days and community events at a science museum;

· China: charity sales events in Shanghai and Chengdu to support communities and families devastated by last year’s major earthquake;

· India: partnering with NGO’s to volunteer at orphanages in India; helping with life skills training for disadvantaged youth; organizing collections for clothing and money;

· North Asia: arranging for high school students to spend a day with employees at the office to give them exposure to the business world;

· South and South East Asia: donations to blood banks.

Alcatel-Lucent has been operating in Cambodia since 1992, and is a major supplier of GSM equipment and solutions to Mobitel, the country’s biggest mobile operator. The company recently signed a frame agreement with a new customer, Chuan Wei, to build a nation-wide WiMAX network.

About Tabitha Cambodia

Tabitha Cambodia was founded in 1994 by Janne Ritskes, a Canadian with 20 years experience working in the slums of the United States, Philippines, Kenya and Cambodia. Tabitha Cambodia works exclusively to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor. Tabitha Cambodia is currently working with 3,500 families in five Cambodian provinces. For more information, visit Tabitha Cambodia on the Internet: http://www.tabithafoundationaustralia.com/main.cfm?Page=2

About International Days of Caring (IDOC)

The first Alcatel-Lucent International Days of Caring Project (IDOC) was launched in 2008. Held annually in April/May/June, the multi-week event focuses on team-driven, employee-led projects. More than 9,800 employees supported more than 180 projects for a total of nearly 75,000 volunteer hours, in 15 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Poland, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States (in 18 states).

Alcatel-Lucent’s 2008 Corporate Social Responsibility report is available at
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/csr/csr-report/Alcatel-Lucent-CSR-Report-2008-EN.pdf.

About Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of service providers, enterprises 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 16.98 billion in 2008 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

For more information please contact:

Manpreet Singh
9810286337
manpreet.singh {at} vccpl(.)com

Krityanand Kundan
9990099562
krityanand.kundan {at} vccpl(.)com

Latika Taneja
9899010054
Latika.Taneja {at} alcatel-lucent(.)com

Hiranmay Choudhury
9871527830
hiranmay.choudhury {at} alcatel-lucent(.)com

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