(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
RDATE:05052008

TORONTO - To help accelerate the global adoption of the 4G technology
for high-speed, high-bandwidth mobile communications, Nortel*
[NYSE/TSX: NT] has published a competitive handset royalty rate of
about one percent subject to terms1 for its portfolio of LTE
standards-essential patents. Nortel's competitive handset royalty rate
for patent value is one of the first to be voluntarily published.
Nortel is providing this information in order to help service providers
and their handset vendors develop business plans for launching LTE, a
wireless technology that can support hotly demanded mobile applications
like social networking, multi-player gaming, and streaming video.

With initial LTE deployments expected to occur as early as next year,
operators are exploring the business case for investment in the 4G
wireless technology to meet demand for higher-bandwidth mobile
services. Nortel is taking this exceptional step of publishing its
competitive patent royalty rates in order to provide increased
transparency and predictability of IPR costs that could help prevent
uncertainties in handset costs from inhibiting the growth of the 4G
market. Removing an unknown of LTE IPR handset licensing costs is
expected to help foster LTE business cases and reduce the risks of
early deployment. Nortel will make licenses available and is providing
royalty information to help simplify the current guesswork while
ensuring that its innovation is rewarded.

"Nortel believes pioneers and innovators should be entitled to a
reasonable return on their investment in R&D and leading contributions
to the next-generation standard, where not all patents are created
equal," said John Hoadley, vice president of 4G ecosystem and business
development, Nortel.

It is Nortel's position that compensation provided through licensing
standards-essential patent claims under fair, reasonable and
non-discriminatory terms (FRAND) should be based on the significance of
the patented technology in the standard and the value of the patented
technology to the licensed implementation. That way, innovators that
develop technological breakthroughs are appropriately rewarded for
their IPR and their portfolio value while standardized technologies can
remain accessible to anyone through licenses on reasonable terms.

For more than 10 years, Nortel has been at the forefront of the
development of foundational technologies that enable 4G LTE. Nortel is
a key innovator in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM),
Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Adaptive Modulation and Coding,
Space Time Coding, Channel Coding, Automatic Retransmission Request,
OFDM Sub-channel Mapping, Hand-off and Frame Structure, and MIMO
Transmitter/Receive Architecture - the radio access technologies at the
heart of 4G LTE and that provide significant spectral efficiency,
performance and capacity.

Nortel has developed fundamental and valuable patented and patent
pending technologies in these fields, and its R&D efforts have allowed
it to be an early, key contributor to LTE standard development.
Nortel's innovative advancements will enable it to be a major provider
of LTE solutions in the market.

"Nortel is focused on helping our customers put the power of 4G LTE
wireless broadband into the hands of consumers as quickly and as
cost-effectively as possible," said Scott Wickware, vice president of
marketing and strategy for carrier networks, Nortel. "This is why we
have published competitive handset royalty rates for our LTE
standards-essential patent claims. Coupled with the cost benefits of
next-generation LTE technologies, we think moves like this by patent
holders could help provide handset suppliers with IPR cost
predictability.

That in turn will hopefully encourage early adoption of LTE and a

healthy ecosystem from which service providers can build a strong
business case for LTE deployment."

About Nortel

Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities
that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our
customers. Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider
and enterprise networks, support multimedia and business-critical
applications. Nortel's technologies are designed to help eliminate
today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying
networks and connecting people to the information they need, when they
need it. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries around the
world. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com.
For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.

Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as
"could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends",
"estimates", "targets", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language
and are considered forward-looking statements or information under
applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on
Nortel's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections
about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel
operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks
and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual
outcome may be materially different from those contemplated in
forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to
certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on
Form10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings
with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws,
Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.

1Nortel will license its LTE standards essential patent claims for LTE
handsets at a royalty rate of about 1 percent on the sale price,
subject specific terms to reciprocity, defensive suspension, and
grantback to Nortel products, services, and solutions, as well as other
customary license terms and conditions. Click here for more details.

CONTACT: Karen Monaghan, Nortel
Tel: +1 613 763 1133
e-mail: kmonagha@nortel.com
Karen Gumbs, Nortel
Tel: +1 905 863 7095
e-mail: karengu@nortel.com

((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information
provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties.
Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at
http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to
info@m2.com)).

Copyright ? 2008 M2 Communications Ltd.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]

Discussions: