Nortel, T-Mobile ink $320 million UMTS deal

(Telephony) Nortel Network will supply $320 million worth of wireless Internet infrastructure equipment and services to Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile International for the buildout of its third-generation UMTS networks across Europe.

Nortel officials hope the fact that this is the company’s fourth European win could help the vendor gain more momentum in the United States.

“U.S. operators are recognizing the value of global alignment,” said Mark Tharby, vice president of wireless Internet marketing with Nortel Networks. “Our leadership in Europe hopefully will translate into Asia and back into the U.S. market.”

As part of its deal with T-Mobile, Nortel will deploy the core IP network and a portion of the radio access infrastructure for the carrier’s networks. It also plans to conduct UMTS field trials in spring 2001, with commercial service expected by the end of 2002.

“This [arrangement] reaffirms our leadership in the core part of the wireless Internet network,” Tharby said. “We have been focused on the optical space and now this affirms our position in the Internet part of the 3G space.”

Nortel also has secured UMTS relationships with BT Cellnet of the United Kingdom, Airtel and Xfera in Spain and AT&T Wireless in the U.S.