Nortel, Toshiba To Develop WiMAX Base Stations For Japan

May 22, 2007

Nortel and Toshiba Corporation announced an agreement for the joint development of mobile WiMAX base stations for Japanese and global markets. The base stations will be based on Nortel's broadband wireless technology and Toshiba's amplifier and miniaturization technology.

The new WiMAX base stations will offer low power consumption and will feature miniaturized equipment. The base stations' radio module will be developed by Toshiba, drawing on its strengths in miniaturization and high-efficiency amplifier technologies. Nortel will develop the digital module for the base stations. Nortel has extensive WiMAX R&D capabilities and expertise in OFDM and MIMO technologies that support high-speed wireless broadband communications. Building on these respective strengths, Nortel and Toshiba will develop a range of small, power efficient and cost effective WiMAX base stations.

"The initial focus will be on the joint development of WiMAX products, with Toshiba engineers contributing experience and expertise in radio technologies to Nortel's WiMAX solution," said Shunichi Kimura, corporate vice president, and president and CEO of Toshiba's Social Infrastructure Systems Company, the division driving this initiative. "In addition to Japan, there are many countries around the world that would benefit from the implementation of WiMAX technology and this cooperative effort will make a significant contribution to bringing WiMAX solutions to these markets quickly and cost effectively."

"Japan is an important market for us and this agreement with Toshiba is positioning Nortel to play a further role in helping Japanese and global service providers deliver high-speed mobile broadband services," said Peter MacKinnon, general manager, Nortel WiMAX and Wireless Mesh, and chairman, LG-Nortel. "It also offers a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate how two technology powerhouses can pool innovation to develop new WiMAX products that simplify business in this era of hyperconnectivity - where anything that would benefit from being connected to the network will be connected."

"This agreement marks a significant milestone for Nortel and Toshiba," said Nick Vreugdenhil, president, Japan, Nortel. "As Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications works to standardize ultra-broadband wireless technologies for the domestic market, we will be ready to respond to the needs of the Japanese market - and extend the benefits of this joint development alliance to other markets around the globe."

In Japan, Nortel and Toshiba jointly participated in the government's next-generation wireless trial using WiMAX solutions, and successfully completed the trial service provision in the Tohoku region of northern Japan during December 2006 to March 2007.

Nortel has been involved in development of OFDM/MIMO for more than eight years. Nortel is conducting WiMAX trials and completing network deployments around the world, notably with Chunghwa Telecom and the National Taiwan University in Taiwan, Austar in Australia, Quad-Cities Online and MSV in the United States, Wind Telecom in the Dominican Republic, Craig Wireless in Greece, Golden Telecom in Russia, Telefonica Moviles in Mexico and TVA in Brazil, as well as with Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Toshiba has experience and expertise in wireless transmission areas, such as wireless base stations, booster amps for base stations, ROF (Radio Over Fiber) and gap fillers, mainly in the Japanese market.