Cannes, February 14, 2004 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Fashion TV, the only 24/7 TV channel dedicated to fashion, today announced an agreement to jointly develop and demonstrate fashion-themed video services to address the demands of mobile operators for user-centric broadband services featuring appealing video content in the 3G Reality Centres of Alcatel (14 locations worldwide) .
In addition to this partnership on 3GRC, visitors to Alcatel's stand at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes from February 14th to 17th will be able to see fashion shows on mobile handsets, presented in conjunction with Fashion TV. They will also be able to download pictures and stream fashion videos - and even vote by SMS for the best modeling video.
On February 15th and 16th (Tuesday and Wednesday) from 5:45 pm to 6:45 pm, visitors to the Alcatel stand will see a live shoot by Fashion TV with three of today's most glamorous models. Visitors will be invited to take pictures and send them by MMS. They can even win a chance to be photographed with one of the fashion models.
Through this new collaboration, Fashion TV's video content for mobile phones will be used by Alcatel for video-on-demand (VoD) or live streaming of video clips for demonstration purposes in its 3G Reality Centres (3GRC)*, which integrate Alcatel's end-to-end 2.5.G/GPRS, broadband wireless access solutions (encompassing WiFi, GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSDPA, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX), together with Alcatel's ecosystem of application and content partners.
Fashion TV's mobile content and services, combined with Alcatel's technical solutions, which include a video & music content delivery suite specifically designed for 2.5G and 3G networks and a global Service Delivery Platform (SDP) solution used for MMS, Wap, etc., will provide operators with innovative and high value added service opportunities.
"Fashion TV delivers special content adapted to mobile phone use on various mobile networks, and is the only TV channel specifically aimed at a fashion audience. Fashion TV will cooperate and benefit from Alcatel's technical expertise and integration capabilities, its extensive experience in video and telecommunications and its global customer base," declared Sebastien Vanackere, Business Development Manager of Fashion TV. "Leveraging Alcatel's worldwide network of 3G Reality Centres demonstration and test centers, the two companies will jointly define the best end-user experience for the benefit of the global market."
"For operators and traditional suppliers alike, the world is changing and partnerships are essential for success," stated Marc Rouanne, chief operating officer of Alcatel's mobile activities. "By integrating Fashion TV's innovative, fashion-based concept in our 3G Reality Centres, we get access to new ideas and generate fresh impulses to accelerate the emergence of new user-centric mobile video services worldwide."
About Fashion TV
Founded in 1997, thanks to the intuition of its president Michel Adam, Fashion TV has become in just a few years one of the most widely distributed satellite channel in the world with 300 million viewers in over 130 countries across the 5 continents. These results have been achieved thanks to extremely rich programming: 24 hours a day of style, fashion and pure beauty, with 500 hours of new programs every year, 300 catwalks and 600 new clips every season. For more information : http://www.ftv.com/
FTV Contact: Sebastien Vanackere : sebastien@ftv.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 12.3 billion in 2004, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
About Alcatel's 3G Reality Centres
Alcatel's 3G Reality Centre program is a worldwide initiative with special emphasis on 3G/UMTS in Europe and Asia. They offer Alcatel and its partners, including local content and applications providers as well as handset suppliers, a live and comprehensive end-to-end environment for the development, validation and testing of advanced mobile applications and data services, in the field of 2.5G/GPRS, and 3G/UMTS and beyond. Such centres are already operational in Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon, Malmö (Sweden), Paris, Rijswijk (Netherlands), Stuttgart, Shanghai, Taipei and Vimercate (Italy), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Moscow (Russia). http://www.alcatel.com/3GRC | |
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