Nortel Wins CDMA Contract

By Mark Evans | Published: November 11, 2008

Lost in the shuffle of the third-quarter results and the restructuring news was Nortel being selected as the key vendor in the evolution of China Telecom’s CDMA network in seven provinces. Nortel will supply the enhanced base station controllers and base stations.

“CDMA is at the heart of networks deployed by some of the world’s largest operators, providing voice, data, and video to millions of consumers,” said Richard Lowe, president Carrier Networks, Nortel. “We’re delighted to be working with CTC as it rolls out its next-generation network and look forward to a long, successful relationship. In China, Nortel has over 35 years of experience helping operators deliver exceptional service quality and has made China a strategic focus with significant manufacturing, R&D and service capabilities.”

CTC’s expanded network will provide improved voice service and mobile multimedia applications – including Web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, picture messaging, gaming and advanced data services – to a rapidly expanding customer base.

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  • buyonbadnews

    You are correct Mark that this win was lost in the shuffle. The media loves bad news. Maybe it would be a good thing if Nortel was delisted from NYSE as anything short of bankruptcy would be good news!

  • adam

    Just curious Mark.

    Do you have any shares in Nortel? and if not
    Did you have shares at one time and lost money?
    Otherwise Why would someone devote their efforts in posting such negative (deserved or not) on such a doomed company?
    You are the classic wolf in sheeps clothing can't wait to get out as much negative news as possible. Probably drooling all over your keyboard.

  • Mark Evans

    Adam,

    I've never owned any Nortel stock. To be honest, I started writing AAN as an experiment to see if it was possible to blog about a single company. I make no apologies for AAN's tone given the troubles and challenges that Nortel has faced in recent years. You can call it “negative” but I'd prefer to describe as realistic.

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    Your comments are likely a reflection of your own feelings/sentiments/prejudices for NT rather than an observation about this blog.

  • less

    “Why would someone devote their efforts in posting such negative (deserved or not) on such a [fill in the blank]?”

    So… how about that… global warming?

  • adam

    Yes Mark it is realistic and sad. As a frustrated investor I guess what frustrates me the most is the constant negative post of analyst comments.
    How can an analyst dowgrade and lower their estimates every couple months and actually have any creditibilty? Anyone can wake up in the morning see dark clouds and rain then forcast a miserable day. How many so called experts forcasted Nortel would be less than a buck two years ago? I mean the companies fundamentals have not changed for many years. They never make a profit and always have those never ending one time charges that manifest themselves every quarter. If Nortel ever was to pull itself out of it's present condition and turn into a profitable company these same idiots would be singing the companies praises and most likely would again be posted all over AAN.

  • Nortel watcher

    Adam,
    The Headline News tab in Yahoo offers the same updates on NT like one finds here at AAN. I don't think for a minute that Mark Evans looks forward to posting negative news on NT anymore than the reporters for Yahoo HN. Both are just posting news.

    I believe AAN is a great resource for all stakeholders especially since some current NT employees feel compelled to share/comment on some developments here and there and yes, vent too.

    I only wish the Executive leadership at NT were drooling over the next big deal or the next groundbreaking technology NT will unveil so that they can legally exercise options to buy stock and increase their holdings while justifying the exhorbitant salaries already paid to them and to the rank and file.

  • Accountant

    Wasn't this news reported awhile ago of which NT was only one of the winners?

    http://www.marbridgeconsulting.com/marbridgedai…

  • Lonely Ops Guy

    adam:

    Is it because the stock value is “consequence” and not cause?

    Or is because it's not the stock that drives a company, but it's technology and innovation?

    In my view, what you are saying it's the tail wagging the dog.

    There is nothing new on the tech front…..might as well just blame it on the stock….

  • duncan

    It is really hard to tell how meaningful news stories like this are. Seven provinces sounds good — but that is out of how many? I did a quick search and note that CTC announced spending on CDMA upgrades and mentioned the top four winners — Nortel wasn't on the list and had previously had a 17% CDMA share with CTC.

    In other words: the announcement as above looks positive…but did NT actually lose share?

    http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%…

  • Clint

    Surely there must be somebody reading this or in CDMA who can tell us what the dollar value of this deal is?
    That is all anybody cares about nowadays..especially when it comes to NT.

  • CG

    The market share is kept the same level as before but the price is pretty bad…think about the local vendors Huawei and ZTE's competition, this is not an easy win.

  • duncan

    This back-of-the-napkin stuff, but if we assume that NT came 5th, then we could get close. The Marbridge artice says the total spend is about 10B RMB. Huawei and ZTE had a combined 48%, ALU was third with 17%, and MOT 4th or less than 17%. Let's guess NT got 15%?

    At 0.12 RMB/US$ I get NT share at about $180 million or so. Who knows over how many years or at what margins — remember that BSNL India contract where NT had zero gross margins?

  • Clint

    That would suck.
    They need to do alot better than that.
    Where is Manley?

  • broadbandbill

    Adam,

    You are venting at the wrong person; I strongly advise you show up at the next shareholders meeting and address your issues with the root of the problem (make that roots). — bb

  • nortel_R&D

    Duncan, take a look at this article:
    http://fixed-mobile-convergence.tmcnet.com/topi…

    In this article, it mentioned that CTC provides services to 21 provinces, so 7 is roughly 1/3 of that. That link you posted, the original source is 163.net, a chinese website. I don't completely trust the source. Previously, also published and sourced in some chinese websites, there were news about huawei built a 100G prototype, as well as 100GE prototype.. so far now one has seen it. Would you say the sources or the information are credible? Thanks.

  • CTC

    Nortel can not earn much from this deal, not as much as Nortel did for the CDMA phase-1 in CUTC in China. The reason is that contract was not signed directly between Nortel and CTC, instead it was signed by a kind of “distributor” of Nortel with CTC….

  • AcrimoniousAl
  • HopeNTsurvive

    I see so many negative comments on the Nortel win of this CDMA contract. But is this win better than nothing? Considering the current economic crisis, considering the cash-hungering Nortel, is this win like a drop of water for a man struggling in a desert?

  • less

    So I take it Nortel's CDMA guys who got canned in Texas were hired right back.

  • Tongue.In.Cheek

    Many people are extremely frustrated with Nortel to the point that anything and everything they do must be wrong and bad. All About Nortel is the place where many come to vent their frustrations regardless if what they post is true or false.

  • The Psychiatrist

    TIC

    well said- although I can't help but to place merit in broadband bill's contributions.

  • China

    It's PostCom's.

  • crisis2opportunity

    Boys, I searched and found only Nortel disclosed contract with $110M.
    Where the other vendors? like Moto, ALU and Chinese vendor, like Huawei and ZTE. What happened to these vendors?
    If Nortel's deep pocket customer still rely on Nortel, why worried the future?
    From the Mark Eveans's web, I havn't seen the real info happend yet. :) although Mark always bring some info to us…..:)

  • crisis2opportunity

    Boys, I searched and found only Nortel disclosed contract with $110M.
    Where the other vendors? like Moto, ALU and Chinese vendor, like Huawei and ZTE. What happened to these vendors?
    If Nortel's deep pocket customer still rely on Nortel, why worried the future?
    From the Mark Eveans's web, I havn't seen the real info happend yet. :) although Mark always bring some info to us…..:)

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