FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2004
Nortel Networks joins Chinese rival
REUTERS
OTTAWA: Nortel Networks will form a joint venture with China's largest telecoms equipment maker to develop and manufacture third-generation wireless products, the companies said on Tuesday.
Nortel, North America's largest maker of telecommunications equipment, and China Putian Corp. have signed an agreement to research, develop and manufacture 3G wireless technology for customers in China.
The deal, still subject to a binding agreement, comes after Nortel's chief executive said this month he wanted to forge more partnerships to take advantage of the technology expertise of other companies and boost sales.
The pact with China Putian includes development and manufacturing of products based on the TD-SCDMA, or Time Division - Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access standard, and the manufacture of some WCDMA, or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, gear.
The companies have already run field trials for TD-SCDMA, a Chinese 3G wireless standard that is a competitor to the U.S. CDMA-2000 and Europe's WCDMA systems. Chinese officials say their country will be ready for a full commercial launch of the TD-SCDMA standard by June 2005.
Analysts have said the country's telecoms regulator is waiting for the relatively young standard to be commercially ready before it issues 3G licences to mobile operators.
Copyright © 2004 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.