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Vodafone takes university students to Bell Labs, world's incubator of innovation


Doha, 10 Apr 2014
Mohamed Al-Sadah, Chief Administration Officer, Vodafone Qatar, and Henrique do Vale, CSO Qatar Alcatel-Lucent
Mohamed Al-Sadah, Chief Administration Officer, Vodafone Qatar, and Henrique do Vale, CSO Qatar Alcatel-Lucent

Vodafone Qatar and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), the leading global telecommunications equipment company and a major technology supplier to Vodafone, today announced a joint agreement to take six university students for an internship programme at Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs located in Europe and the United States. The Bell Labs programme is considered to be one of the most sought-out internship programmes of its kind in the world and one that is highly regarded by many in the engineering industry.

Vodafone Qatar will reach out to several universities in Qatar to choose two of its top performing students to join the two-month programme which will kick-start in June 2014. The programme will entail a hands-on experience of the best in the academic and corporate realms for these students, to leave the Bell Labs programme with an unparalleled exposure to the birthplace of many of the 20th century's most influential technologies, which continues to drive the development of the communications networks of the future.

Eisa Abdulla, Head of Qatarization at Vodafone Qatar, said: "Contributing to the development of a strongly talented workforce ranks at the top of our priorities at Vodafone Qatar. However, this can only be achieved when companies seriously and continuously invest to provide these growth opportunities that are underpinned with genuine and tangible benefits. That's exactly what underlines our collaboration with Bell Labs. The Bell Labs programme is an experience that every student in the fields of engineering and technology considers to be an opportunity of a lifetime, owing to the fact that they'll be working very closely with some of the world's most distinguished scientists and researchers. Bell Labs is a true model for creative thinking."

Bell Labs is focused on the biggest technical challenges in the telecommunications industry, solving complex problems through both applied and fundamental research. Researchers at Bell Labs - many of them global leaders in their respective disciplines - are working to transform the way people connect with each other and with information and content.

"Bell Labs has a long tradition of collaborating with the world's leading universities and research institutions, and is home to many of the most talented researchers in the field of communications networking," says Thierry Van Landegem, Vice-President for Research Collaborations at Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs. "We are always seeking to enrich the Bell Labs research community with new talent, new skills and new perspectives. This programme with Vodafone Qatar offers a great opportunity to meet and work with some of the top students at Qatar's universities, while providing them with a chance to collaborate with world-renowned research teams."

Internationally recognised as one of the world's pre-eminent industrial research facilities and as a centre of scientific and engineering excellence, few institutions have had as great an impact on modern society as Bell Labs. An extensive array of awards has been bestowed on Bell Labs researchers, including 12 Nobel Prize laureates, 12 US Medals of Science, 12 US Medals of Technology & Innovation, four Turing Award laureates, six Draper prizes, nine Marconi Prizes and three Lifetime Achievement Awards, four Japan Prizes, 15 C&C prizes, 23 IEEE Medals of Honor, 13 Tyndall Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy, and an Academy Award.

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Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU)

Alcatel-Lucent is at the forefront of global communications, providing products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service providers and their customers, and to enterprises and institutions throughout the world. Underpinning Alcatel-Lucent in driving the industrial transformation from voice telephony to high-speed digital delivery of data, video and information is Bell Labs, an integral part of the group and one of the world's foremost technology research institutes, responsible for countless breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Alcatel-Lucent's innovations have resulted in its group being recognised by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 Global Innovator, as well as being named by MIT Technology Review as among 2012's Top 50 "World's Most Innovative Companies". It has also been recognised for innovation in sustainability, being named Industry Group Leader in the Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review, for making global communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, all in pursuit of the group's mission to realise the potential of a connected world.

With revenues of Euro 14.4 billion in 2013, Alcatel-Lucent is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges (Euronext and NYSE: ALU). The company is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

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Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C.

Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C. ("Vodafone Qatar") is the holder of the Second Public Mobile and Fixed Telecommunications Networks and Services License in the State of Qatar.

Vodafone Qatar switched on its mobile network on 1 March 2009 and shortly after started delivering great value to its customers with a range of exciting products and services.

Having built a world class converged IP network, Vodafone launched fibre-based consumer and enterprise fixed-line services commercially in October 2012 and is expanding its fibre services in conjunction with Qnbn deployment of Fibre to Homes and Corporates.

Vodafone's objective is to be one of the most admired brands in Qatar and the Company is committed to providing world class telecommunications infrastructure to support Qatar National Vision 2030. Please visit www.vodafone.qa for more details.

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