Nortel continues search for larger WiMAX share

One major infrastructure vendor initially left out of Sprint Nextel Corp.’s WiMAX network development is Nortel Networks Ltd.
Soon after being snubbed by the No. 3 carrier when it announced its trio of infrastructure partners in late 2006, Nortel said it expected to be working with Sprint Nextel on the project eventually. That hasn’t come to fruition as of yet, although Sprint Nextel is adding new partners and has hinted at more to come.
While Nortel has announced a few wins in international WiMAX deployments-the company now has wins and trials under way across five continents-it still has its sights set on a piece of the mobile WiMAX action in the United States.
“They’re clearly one of the big opportunities here in North America, but they’re not the only ones, there are other opportunities that are fairly sizable,” Regina Moldovan, senior manager of WiMAX marketing at Nortel, said of Sprint Nextel.
She made note of Nortel’s long-standing relationship with Sprint Nextel, but said there was no public update on its continued absence from Sprint Nextel’s plans.
“There’s actually a lot of opportunity in the United States alone that will be coming to fruition over the coming months,” she added. Nortel still expects other tier-one carriers to commit to WiMAX down the road. AT&T Inc. owns significant spectrum but has been quiet on its WiMAX plans.
Like the carrier, Nortel believes WiMAX will become a conduit for consumer electronics’ access to the Internet. “I would agree that Sprint’s vision there is bang on,” Moldovan said. “Pretty much any device of data could be the customer of these services.”
Nortel is tackling what it sees as four major segments for WiMAX: new entrants; attackers or existing players looking for triple- and quadruple-play of services; “leapfroggers” or users that will make the jump from 2G services to 4G; and then those that will make the jump from 3G to 4G services.
Moldovan said Nortel’s offering in WiMAX will be positioned to provide Voice over Internet Protocol, backhaul and enterprise services all converged on one platform.
Interest in Nortel’s WiMAX variety is coming from a variety of players, some looking to deliver broadband access to a population for the first time ever while others are looking to unchain the Internet from a stationary location.
“It is really played both ways. It varies depending on if it’s a developing country for instance,” Moldovan said. “WiMAX just opens up the opportunity for any device being connected to the Internet, and I’m not sure I would distinguish between regions on that front.”