Verizon Dumps Qualcomm for Euro Upgrades

Verizon Wireless has chosen a European technology as its path to fourth-generation wireless broadband expansion.

The No. 2 wireless telco says it has opted for the Long Term Evolution, or LTE, network standard and has selected big gearmakers Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Ericsson (ERIC), Motorola (MOT), Nokia-Siemens, and Nortel (NT) as its initial suppliers.

The LTE technology standard is built on Europe's Global System for Mobile, or GSM, system and is being developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project group based in France.

The big losers in the choice of LTE are other 4G options like long-time Verizon partner Qualcomm (QCOM) with its OFMDA business and WiMax outfits including Clearwire (CLWR).

The move might not be a total blow to Qualcomm though. The San Diego tech giant has individual representatives on the 3GPP development body, and has said that it expects to have some royalty and licensing opportunities in LTE.

Verizon Wireless -- a joint venture between Verizon(VZ) and Vodafone (VOD) -- says it expects all the major phone makers including Nokia (NOK), Motorola (MOT), Samsung and LG will have handsets that work on the new LTE technology.

Trials will start sometime next year, the company says.

The move would finally align Verizon and Vodafone on the same technology path. Currently, Verizon uses a CDMA-based standard in the U.S., but that system is incompatible with GSM networks operated by Vodafone in other markets.