Canada-based telecommunications giant Nortel and leading Chinese telecommunications provider Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd are to establish a joint venture for developing ultra broadband access solutions for markets around the world.

The two companies have also signed a supply agreement that allows Nortel to immediately begin engaging customers with Huawei's broadband access portfolio.

The new venture will combine Huawei's market-leading broadband access solutions with Nortel's voice and broadband networking technologies to create a new product portfolio in the broadband access market.

These products will give service providers the ability to converge the delivery of voice, video, data and wireless services to business and residential customers onto a common IP platform that supports copper, fiber and fixed wireless networks.

The two parties have agreed that the joint venture will be majority-owned by Nortel, with its headquarters based in Ottawa.

The joint venture will be focused on product enhancements for Huawei's current broadband access portfolio and the development of a new ultra broadband product portfolio.

This portfolio will be sold exclusively by Huawei and Nortel as channel providers, according to the agreement.

Nortel and Huawei expect to complete the formation of the joint venture in the third quarter of 2006 when the joint new products will also be available to all markets.

Total revenues for the global broadband access equipment market approached 9 billion dollars in 2005 and included a 1 billion dollars IP-DSLAM segment that is forecast to reach nearly 2 billion dollars in 2008, according to Dell'Oro Group.

Huawei Technologies is a leader in providing next generation networks for telecommunications operators around the world. Huawei's products and solutions are deployed in over 100 countries and serve 28 of the world's top 50 operators, as well as over one billion users worldwide.

Source: Xinhua