Alcatel

Alcatel originated as a French industrial conglomerate that evolved into a major global telecommunications equipment vendor. Rooted in Compagnie Générale d’Électricité, founded in 1898 as a cable and telephone equipment company, it expanded into construction, shipbuilding and energy before being restructured around telecommunications. Under the Alcatel name, it became a leading supplier of digital telephone switches, terrestrial and submarine transmission cables, satellite equipment, cellular infrastructure and DSL access systems, with sales of €13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005 and operations in more than 130 countries. In 2006 Alcatel acquired U.S.-based Lucent Technologies, creating Alcatel‑Lucent, which focused on fixed, mobile and converged networking hardware, IP technologies, software and services. Alcatel‑Lucent reported revenues of €17.8 billion in 2007 and was later acquired and absorbed by Nokia in 2016. The Alcatel name now survives through several specialised businesses and brand licenses. Alcatel‑Lucent Enterprise, headquartered in Colombes, France and owned by China Huaxin, provides networking, cloud infrastructure, unified communications, contact‑centre and Wi‑Fi solutions to enterprises, telecommunications companies and data providers. It serves more than 830,000 customers in 100 countries through over 2,900 business partners and operates globally with offices across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, including a 33,000 m² campus in Vimercate near Milan that combines offices, laboratories and a multimedia centre for around 1,700 staff. In Turkey, Alcatel Lucent Teletas Telekomunikasyon manufactures and sells telecommunications equipment and end‑to‑end network solutions for operators, ISPs, enterprises and consumers, with representative offices at Istanbul Ataturk Airport Free Trade Zone and in Azerbaijan. The Alcatel brand in end‑user devices is licensed to TCL Communication for mobile phones and handheld devices marketed worldwide, and to Atlinks for fixed‑line telephones under the Alcatel Home & Business banner, maintaining consumer recognition despite the original Alcatel SA and Alcatel‑Lucent corporate entities having been dissolved into successor groups.