Nortel has signed a contract with wireless broadband pioneer Clearwire to deliver a complete carrier VoIP solution to provide a residential VoIP service to Clearwire’s U.S. customers. Nortel will also provide network engineering, multi-vendor network integration, network deployment and support.
Clearwire’s Internet Phone Service is currently available in 37 of the company’s 46 markets in the U.S. using a regular telephone. The Nortel solution will provide end-to-end carrier VoIP infrastructure, while laying the foundation for Clearwire to easily evolve their network to potentially deliver converged fixed and mobile services.
“Clearwire’s customers require high quality voice service in addition to the robust broadband data service we provide,” said John Saw, chief technology officer, Clearwire. “Nortel’s market-leading voice technology best meets Clearwire’s current needs while providing a simple migration path for our future voice communication requirements.”
Nortel’s solution is based on Nortel’s Application Server 5200 which delivers SIP applications including voice, call management, and desktop video calling. Nortel will also supply its Communication Server 2000, an IP multimedia softswitch that delivers network infrastructure services and supports a wide range of voice and multimedia features based on the open, industry-standard SIP protocol.
According to Dell’Oro Group, Nortel is the worldwide leader in Carrier VoIP and has maintained that position for the last six years (2002 through to the latest reported numbers in 2007). Nortel has deployed its existing SIP applications with more than 100 operators globally and has shipped more than 40 million Carrier VoIP ports.
Clearwire’s CTO John Saw told RCR Wireless News that the company’s Oregon trial covers 145 square miles in Beaverton, Hillsboro and Tigard, all west of downtown Portland, Ore. Some 35 to 45 towers cover the entire trial market, but Saw urged against reading into those numbers since different terrain and urban density would skew that number heavily depending on the market being covered.
“Candidly, we are flushing out a lot of early technology issues,” he said. “We are actually transitioning WiMAX into production. We have signed up some friendly users on the network and we’re adding them as we reach different levels of maturity,” Saw said. Speeds are meeting company expectations with customers receiving 2 to 4 Mbps on a downlink and about 1 Mbps on an uplink.
Saw says the company is still on track to commercially launch mobile WiMAX markets this year.
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