Industry analysts are speculating that Canadian vendor Nortel may be planning to spin off its UMTS business following rumours of organisational changes within the company.

Nikos Theodosopoulos, analyst with investment bank UBS, said that he has received information which suggests that Nortel has organisationally separated the GSM and UMTS access businesses, “a move that may presage a potential spin-off/disposal of the UMTS access business”.

Nortel is one of the largest vendors which has remained noticeably uninvolved in the recent spate of equipment manufacturer mergers. The recently announced four year strategic alliance between Nortel and Microsoft as well as a focus on enterprise channel partnerships, indicate that the enterprise space continues to be an area of increasing focus.

Motorola is another manufacturer that has not participated in any of the mega-mergers that have seen Lucent and Alcatel and Nokia and Siemens come together in recent months. But the vendor yesterday formed a UMTS kit partnership with Chinese vendor Huawei, which could be an indicator of future strategy.

Nortel has also been wrong-footed this week by the departure of the vice president and general managers for WiMAX and Converged Core Networks including IMS. No replacements have yet been identified and the developments could put Nortel in a predicament as UBS points out that both IMS and WiMAX are two of three key strategic areas of focus for Nortel.

Manx Telecom and Lucent Technologies announced a comprehensive agreement that continues the evolution of Manx Telecom’s network to support a wide array of “blended” Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), data and video services over a converged network that combines third-generation (3G) wireless technology and the latest wireline broadband access capabilities.

Under the agreement Lucent will supply Manx Telecom with additional elements of its industry-leading IMS solution to support advanced multimedia services. Lucent also will increase the capacity of Manx Telecom’s wireless network and upgrade the carrier’s broadband wireline network with the Lucent Multimedia Access Platform (MMAP), an all-IP solution that enables service providers to profitably deliver high-bandwidth video/IPTV, VoIP and multimedia services to the mass market.

In addition, Lucent Worldwide Services will provide network installation, design, integration and migration services as well as its suite of VitalSuiteВ® network management products.

The new contract builds on a previous pact under which the two companies have already deployed a super-fast, multimedia network based on 3G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology. Lucent-supplied infrastructure has been supporting commercial services based on 3G UMTS and HSDPA technology.

“We are excited to embark on this next phase of our collaboration with Lucent on the deployment of this showcase network on the Isle of Man,” said Mike Loundes, CTO of Manx Telecom. “We led the way in the wireless industry with the launch of the world’s first commercial HSDPA network and with this project, we continue to break new ground with one of the industry’s first fully converged networks.”

The upgraded network will enable Manx Telecom to offer VoIP services to enterprises and consumers, “blended lifestyle” services — that combine voice, data and video capabilities — and offerings such as “converged voice services” that enable subscribers to access both voice and data services over WiFi and cellular networks using a single phone.

“Manx Telecom is constantly looking to provide the latest and best value services to our customers, and this collaboration is simply the latest demonstration of that commitment,” said Chris Hall, managing director of Manx Telecom. “This network will enable the delivery of these services.”

As part of this project Lucent will replace Manx Telecom’s existing broadband and GSM core network infrastructures whilst augmenting its 3G UMTS network. Lucent also will supply Manx Telecom with Lucent Ethernet Routers (a recent acquisition from Riverstone Networks) to support the high reliability and scalability necessary to deliver the user Quality of Experience (QoE) for the new IP-based blended services.

“This is an all-encompassing end-to-end solution, with the IMS architecture at its core, that will continue to support existing voice services while enabling the introduction of innovative new multimedia services,” said Andy Williams, president, Lucent Technologies Europe.

The new contract incorporates several products from Lucent’s IMS portfolio including the Lucent Session Manager, Lucent Feature Server, Lucent Communication Manager, Lucent Compact Switch, Lucent Network Gateway and Lucent Network Controller. Lucent also will supply key elements of its Multimedia Networking Solutions portfolio include the Lucent Multimedia Access Platform, Lucent Ethernet Routers and Juniper Networks M-series Multiservice Edge Routers and E-series Broadband Services Routers.

Lucent also will provide its VitalSuiteВ® Network Performance Management software, VitalSuiteВ® Integrated Service Assurance software, VitalSuiteВ® Service Activation Management software and VitalSuiteВ® IP Address Management software to manage and provision new services for the converged network.

The Lucent-supplied high-speed network, now in commercial use, has allowed Manx Telecom to introduce new, mobile high-speed data services such as DVD-quality streaming video, fast downloads of very large files including music, as well as Virtual Private Network (VPN) access to corporate networks.

KTF, one of South Korea’s leading cellular providers, has launched a next-generation ultra-high speed 3.5G wireless network in Seoul and cities across South Korea using wireless broadband technology from LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel (NYSE/TSX: NT). The network supports advanced handset capabilities including high-definition (HD) video, video chatting, messaging and remote monitoring.

The new 3.5 G HSDPA, handset-based service is being launched with two handset models in the initial deployment – including the first HSDPA phone from LG Electronics, the LG-KH1000. A further four to five handsets are planned later in the year. KTF’s new service is branded ‘WorldPhone View’, a name representing ‘the world at your fingertips’ through access to video and collaborative multimedia applications.

KTF’s HSDPA mobile communications will be rolled out in 50 cities across South Korea beginning June 30. LG-Nortel is the primary network supplier and is the exclusive vendor for 34 cities including the vast Seoul metropolitan area which alone accounts for almost 50 percent of the total population of Korea. It is estimated that 80 percent of the country’s population will be able to access the service by the end of August 2006. A further 34 cities will be added by year-end, raising that figure to over 90 percent of the population, according to KTF estimates.

“The launch of our ‘WorldPhone View’ HSDPA service is a key component of KTF’s portfolio of next-generation mobile services,” said Won-Jin Park, executive vice president, KTF. “We chose LG-Nortel as the primary supplier for our UMTS/HSDPA network based on its strong technology credentials and our existing relationship. LG-Nortel has successfully implemented a world-class network which allows us to implement groundbreaking services as we enhance the mobile communications experience for all our customers.”

“LG Nortel, with the strong support of our parent companies Nortel and LGE, has implemented a secure, reliable, high-speed network to support the innovative range of services and applications KTF is launching to its customers,” said Peter MacKinnon, chairman of the board, LG-Nortel. “Korea leads the world in wireless broadband and LG-Nortel plays an integral role in ensuring the continuation of that success. We will work closely with KTF on the evolution of their network to support higher uplink speeds and ever-more sophisticated service requirements in the future.”

A key differentiator of HSDPA compared to current technologies is its ability to support high-speed, real-time HD video content. ‘WorldPhone View’ users will be able to access a variety of new services, including video SMS, video ringtone services, video chatting, video ad messaging and video remote monitoring – as well as high-quality video telephony. High-speed broadband capabilities will also enhance music downloads and high-volume multimedia collaboration and set the foundation for more sophisticated online gaming applications. The two HSDPA handsets being launched will also support universal integrated circuit (IC) cards, allowing access to secure transactions for transportation, membership, mobile banking and credit card services.

KTF’s HSDPA wireless network can deliver services at download speeds up to 14.4Mbps. The introduction of LG-Nortel’s HSUPA upgrade, planned for early 2007, will increase uplink speeds to 5.8 Mbps, improving performance for services requiring the high-speed upload of data.

Demonstrating its technology leadership, Nortel achieved the industry’s first HSDPA mobile call in January 2005 and Nortel and LGE completed the first live test calls using a commercial handset solution for HSDPA in March 2005. More recently, in February 2006, Nortel achieved approval for the introduction of high speed OFDM and MIMO packet access, in line with its technology HSOPA, into the Global 3GPP LTE standards. This paves the way for ‘multiplay’ services including voice, high-speed interactive applications including large data transfer, feature-rich IPTV, IMS enabled services, all with full mobility.