Nortel Plugs Away at Broadband

Nortel (NT Quote), it seems, is no longer willing to watch rival Alcatel (ALA Quote) waltz away with the broadband access market.

The Toronto telecom gearmaker's joint venture deal with China's Huawei, unveiled Wednesday, is expected to put Nortel a huge step closer to one of the hottest markets in networking.

To date, Nortel and phone gear peer Lucent (LU Quote) have largely missed out on the latest round of DSL and fiber optic expansion efforts by Verizon (VZ Quote) and AT&T (T Quote). The telcos are spending billions on network upgrades to deliver advanced digital services like Internet protocol TV as part of a triple play offering to customers.

"This is the sort of bold move people have been looking for from Nortel," says Heavy Reading analyst Scott Clavenna. ...