FIRST MEETING OF THE UMTS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) WORKING GROUP

Paris, February 26, 1998 — Following the consensus reached on the choice of the radio interface for the third generation mobile systems (UMTS) at the ETSI SMG meeting on 29 January 1998, the world’s leading wireless companies met at Alcatel in Paris yesterday to further consider the UMTS IPR concerns expressed in the recent ETSI consensus agreement. An important element of the consensus agreement was an undertaking to work together to provide agreed guidelines for handling IPR essential to the UMTS specification. The rationale for this proposal is to limit the liability of the proposed standard to excessive IPR demands. This would have a direct effect on the commercial viability of the future mobile services.

Following the ETSI consensus agreement, many interested parties expressed the need to address this sensitive issue prior to the complete definition of the technical specifications. The creation of this UMTS IPR Working Group involves all the signatories (operators and manufacturers) of the original ETSI Press Release concerning the UMTS agreement. The objectives of this inaugural meeting was to create an open and transparent process for bringing together all concerned parties in order to find a suitable and equitable solution to the UMTS IPR issues.

The Working Group reviewed possible implementation schemes for identifying essential patents and the administration of those schemes. The meeting agreed to further explore the viability of such schemes within the framework of this UMTS IPR Working Group.

Given that the detailed technical specification work is now progressing rapidly in ETSI, the UMTS IPR Working Group will need to maintain a high momentum in the next few months in order to avoid any blocking IPR situation in the approval of the final standards. Therefore, the next meeting is planned on 8th April 1998 and work will continue between meetings on a range of identified topics by correspondence.

A temporary UMTS IPR Working Group Secretariat has been established at :

Alcatel CIT - 10, rue Latécoère - F-78141 Vélizy Cedex (France), Secretary : Serge RAES.

The participating companies listed below fully support this ambitious initiative : Alcatel, Analog Devices, Bosch, Cegetel, CSEM/Pro Telecom, Ericsson, France Telecom, Fujitsu, Lucent Technologies, Mannesmann, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Nortel, NTT DoCoMo, Siemens, Sony, T-Mobil, Telecom Finland, Telecom Italia, Texas Instruments. Representatives from ETNO, ETSI and the GSM MoU Association also attended this inaugural meeting.

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 informations, visit Alcatel via the web.

Contact : press www.alcatel.com