Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Germany, December 10, 2009 – Vodafone Germany and Alcatel-Lucent today announced they will work together to develop an extensive offer for the German market that makes smarter use of energy by enabling consumers to access real-time information about their energy usage and make more informed decisions about their energy consumption of electricity, gas and water. Both subsidiaries will be marketing the smart metering offer as a managed service through their respective sales organizations and will promote the benefits that this service can bring to the energy sector.

The smart metering managed service will enable German utilities to adhere to recent and forthcoming European Union’s rules and will be implemented for the first time by Stadtwerke Pasewalk, a municipal utility that operates in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The new service offering is the result of matching the core competencies of the two companies.  In this engagement Alcatel-Lucent, through its German subsidiary, is providing its Smart Metering Management System SMM 8617 as well as its services expertise to integrate all the components of the planned smart metering service into a seamless solution, including the connection to the operational management systems of energy suppliers (Enterprise Resource Planning - ERP and Energy Data Management – EDM).

Vodafone Germany provides a secure connection between the intelligent meters -- installed in consumer households -- and the Smart Metering Management System. This type of Machine-to-Machine-Communication (M2M) will be realized over a fixed-line DSL connection or a wireless GPRS connection and will be managed over a highly available M2M service platform.

“The Machine-to-Machine communications market is expanding and smart metering is one of the most promising segments in the future, not alone because of EU rules. We are present in this segment in Germany with strong partners like Alcatel-Lucent and our specialized M2M product portfolio,” says Thomas Strehl, Senior Business Development Manager Industry & New Business, Vodafone Germany.

Underlining the benefits of the partnership, Christof Hecker, VP Sales Vodafone for Germany, Benelux, Eastern Europe, Alcatel-Lucent says “The partnership with Vodafone and Alcatel-Lucent will enable our customers to shape energy demand patterns in the future and meet their "green agenda" by integrating our smart metering service offering”.

The German subsidiaries of Vodafone and Alcatel-Lucent intend to develop their cooperation beyond the energy supplier market and are working closely on innovative smart metering solutions that would apply to the health care field, specifically in patient monitoring or for applications in the development of electric cars.

About Vodafone Germany
Vodafone Germany is one of the largest and most modern telecommunications providers in Europe. It realises turnover of more than EUR nine billion and has 15,000 employees. As an innovative integrated communications technology and service provider headquartered in Düsseldorf, Vodafone Germany offers mobile communications, fixed network telephony, internet and broadband services for businesses and consumers. Continuous development, numerous patents and investments in new products, services and the modern network have made Vodafone an innovation leader in the German telecommunications market. Vodafone is also committed to CSR and it supports numerous projects through the German Vodafone Foundation.

The company is part of the Vodafone Group. Visit the website at www.vodafone.de for further information.