Nortel outlines CDMA 1xEV-DO Revision A strategy

March 17, 2005

Nortel plans to offer CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A technology designed to allow CDMA network operators, including Verizon Wireless, to increase revenues through improved high speed data services.

Announced at CTIA Wireless 2005, Nortel's DO Rev A technology will allow CDMA network operators to provide more feature-rich wireless services such as interactive 3D gaming, mobile music, and a variety of IP services including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and high-speed file transfers. It will also support virtual real-time interactive access to services such as push-to-talk, mobile television, and video telephony.

"Given the tremendous success and momentum of 1xEV-DO, Nortel has embarked on an aggressive program to deliver 1xEV-DO Rev A," said Richard Lowe, president, CDMA, Nortel. "Nortel's DO Rev A technology will allow operators to serve more customers on the same spectrum while delivering VoIP and other advanced multimedia services that enhance the end user's experience and increase subscriber loyalty."

The DO Rev A technology delivers peak data rate bursts up to 3.1 Mbps on the forward link and up to 1.8 Mbps on the reverse link. DO Rev A operates in the 1.25 MHz channel and is optimized for packet data service that provides one of the lowest costs per bit when compared to other cellular technologies.

"DO Revision A is the logical next step for us to consider as we pursue our goal to migrate our 1xEV-DO 3G network to deliver the latest applications and services to our customers," said Ed Salas, vice president of network planning, Verizon Wireless. "EV-DO Rev A fits in with our mantra of providing our business and individual customers superior voice and data networks in the U.S."

Nortel is planning live market trials with Verizon Wireless beginning in 2006.

DO Rev A technology builds on Nortel's leadership position in CDMA and extends the scope of its investment protection strategy. Nortel's CDMA base stations can be upgraded to DO Rev A through simple modular upgrades, allowing all other existing hardware and software to be reused. Nortel currently supplies EV-DO to 11 out of the 17 operators that have commercially launched across the globe. Nortel was the first to commercially offer DO in South America with Vesper, the first in Central America with BSI Guatemala, the first in Australia with Telstra and the first to commercially offer DO in 450 MHz in Eastern Europe with Eurotel.

DO Rev A allows operators to manage various users and applications with different levels of priority, making it possible to offer tiered services and multiple pricing options for different types of services and applications. Operators also can make additional security enhancements by using authentication mechanisms that allow the operator to identify users and give specific access rights to services based on the user's profile.

DO Rev A has been approved by the 3GPP2 Technical Specification Group (TSG-C). Nortel has been a major contributor to the development of 1xEV-DO Rev. 0 and Rev. A standards in 3GPP2. Nortel has proposed key concepts to the standards that improve packing efficiency for High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) Air interface. Nortel

was also instrumental in providing leadership in the development process of 1xEV-DO Revision A physical layer.