Verizon Wireless picks vendors for new network

By Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer

New York (AP) — Verizon Wireless, the largest cellular carrier in the U.S., announced Wednesday that it has picked LM Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent as its main suppliers for a new, nationwide, high-speed wireless data network.

The contracts are potentially worth billions and put the two vendors at the forefront of the race to build networks using a new technology called Long Term Evolution, or LTE. It promises downloads more than 10 times as fast as today's third-generation, or 3G, wireless networks.

Verizon Wireless expects to be the first company in the U.S., and one of the first in the world, to build out LTE. Dick Lynch, chief technology officer at Verizon Communications Inc., which co-owns Verizon Wireless with Vodafone Group PLC of Britain, said it will have trials in two U.S. cities late this year, and a nearly nationwide commercial launch next year.

Other companies, like competitor AT&T Inc., are focusing on improving the speeds of their existing 3G networks, but most expect to eventually move to LTE. Verizon Wireless' 3G network can't be upgraded much further.

Ericsson, which is based in Sweden, also has been selected as an LTE vendor by local carrier TeliaSonera AB. It too plans to launch service in 2010.

Verizon's order is the first major LTE contract for Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent, which was formed by the merger of U.S. and French companies. It said late last year that it would shift its focus away from WiMax, a competing technology, to concentrate on developing LTE.

Lynch said Verizon had selected the two vendors from a field of six candidates that it tested with Vodafone. Other companies making LTE equipment include Motorola Inc., Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel Networks Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co. Nortel declared bankruptcy in January.

Verizon also said that Starent Networks Corp. will deliver some of the wired equipment for the network, and it will use Nokia Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent equipment that ties wireless and wired networks together.

Verizon didn't specify how much it will spend on LTE, but said it will fall within its planned capital budget as it shifts spending from older technologies. Its total capital expenditures, including the wired business, were $17.2 billion last year, and it has said it will spend less this year.

Speaking from the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, Lynch said the LTE launch schedule has been slightly delayed by the postponed shutdown of analog TV transmissions in the U.S.

While the cutoff was originally scheduled for Tuesday, Congress decided to let stations keep broadcasting analog until June 12 to give viewers more time to prepare. Since Verizon Wireless plans to use spectrum vacated by the TV stations, it has been forced to adjust, along with its vendors.

"Together we think we can make up most of the delay, but if there's ... any delay after that, I think it will push the launch out," he said.