New Deployments Fuel Economic Development, Lower Operational Costs and
Increase Public Safety
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 23 /CNW/ - Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) today announced new
municipal wireless deployments that demonstrate the Company's strength in
helping governments embrace broadband wireless as a strategic way to deliver
efficient services that keep communities safe and productive, as well as
economically competitive.
From rural to urban deployments, Nortel's Municipal Wireless Solution is
being used by several new customers in North America, including Carlsbad, New
Mexico; Occoquan Wireless in Occoquan, Virginia and Ronco Communications in
Niagara County, New York.
Nortel combines a comprehensive portfolio of Wireless Mesh, Wireless LAN
and WiMAX technologies with a full suite of Nortel Global Services, giving
customers the solutions they need to design, deploy, support and evolve
municipal wireless networks. Nortel's experience designing, launching and
installing hundreds of public and private wireless networks around the world
helps customers offset risk in building privately-funded networks. For
municipalities interested in partnering with private sector companies, Nortel
can help connect customers with operators that best meet the economic
development and public safety needs of the community.
With a population of 26,000, Carlsbad, New Mexico is on the brink of
massive and rapid economic growth. The city's close proximity to California
makes it an attractive location for high tech and hospitality businesses, as
well as an ideal travel destination for thousands of tourists each year. To
compliment the success of the growing community, the Carlsbad Department of
Development worked with local service provider Windstream Communications to
deploy Nortel's Wireless Mesh Network solution to create a wireless hot zone
covering the commercial downtown area. The new network enables residents and
visitors to use laptops or wireless handheld devices to access the public
Internet and helps the City of Carlsbad expand its economic opportunities by
attracting and retaining new businesses.
"With an influx of economic activity and new growth, we needed a
broadband wireless service that would further Carlsbad's ability to compete
with other urban areas for new business while at the same time maintaining the
charm of its small town roots, and Nortel gave us the perfect solution," said
Robert Detweiler, executive director, Carlsbad Department of Development. "Our
long term vision is to expand wireless broadband access throughout the city
and into many of the new complexes being built along the Pecos River. As our
community grows, so too will our wireless network-it is the backbone of our
economic development."
The picturesque town of Occoquan, Virginia is situated 20 miles south of
Washington, D.C. on the banks of the Occoquan River and has gained notoriety
as one of America's most haunted towns. Occoquan Wireless, a franchise of
Annapolis Wireless, is using Nortel's Wireless Mesh Network solution to
deliver broadband service in Occoquan for merchants, residents and the
thousands of tourists who visit the town each year. By offering sponsorships
and advertising on its splash page to local businesses, Occoquan Wireless is
able to provide wireless broadband coverage free of charge across Occoquan's
waterfront Historic District which features more than 100 antique, art and
craft shops and restaurants, as well as a bustling marina.
"One of our most important goals is to improve conditions for merchants
and visitors in our historic district, and wireless broadband access is an
important step in that direction," said Earnie Porta, mayor of Occoquan.
Nortel is showcasing its Municipal Wireless Solution at Muniwireless 2006
Minneapolis, October 23-24, demonstrating how broadband wireless deployments
can help governments lower operational costs, enhance the level of municipal
government services and increase economic development and public safety for
communities.
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities
that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and
secure and protect the world's most critical information. Our next-generation
technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core
networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help
eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying
networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business in more
than 150 countries. 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. Further, actual
results or events could differ materially from those contemplated in
forward-looking statements as a result of the following (i) risks and
uncertainties relating to Nortel's restatements and related matters including:
Nortel's most recent restatement and two previous restatements of its
financial statements and related events; the negative impact on Nortel and NNL
of their most recent restatement and delay in filing their financial
statements and related periodic reports; legal judgments, fines, penalties or
settlements, or any substantial regulatory fines or other penalties or
sanctions, related to the ongoing regulatory and criminal investigations of
Nortel in the U.S. and Canada; any significant pending civil litigation
actions not encompassed by Nortel's proposed class action settlement; any
substantial cash payment and/or significant dilution of Nortel's existing
equity positions resulting from the finalization and approval of its proposed
class action settlement, or if such class action settlement is not finalized,
any larger settlements or awards of damages in respect of such class actions;
any unsuccessful remediation of Nortel's material weaknesses in internal
control over financial reporting resulting in an inability to report Nortel's
results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely
manner; the time required to implement Nortel's remedial measures; Nortel's
inability to access, in its current form, its shelf registration filed with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Nortel's below
investment grade credit rating and any further adverse effect on its credit
rating due to Nortel's restatements of its financial statements; any adverse
affect on Nortel's business and market price of its publicly traded securities
arising from continuing negative publicity related to Nortel's restatements;
Nortel's potential inability to attract or retain the personnel necessary to
achieve its business objectives; any breach by Nortel of the continued listing
requirements of the NYSE or TSX causing the NYSE and/or the TSX to commence
suspension or delisting procedures; (ii) risks and uncertainties relating to
Nortel's business including: yearly and quarterly fluctuations of Nortel's
operating results; reduced demand and pricing pressures for its products due
to global economic conditions, significant competition, competitive pricing
practice, cautious capital spending by customers, increased industry
consolidation, rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards,
frequent new product introductions and short product life cycles, and other
trends and industry characteristics affecting the telecommunications industry;
the sufficiency of recently announced restructuring actions, including the
potential for higher actual costs to be incurred in connection with these
restructuring actions compared to the estimated costs of such actions and the
ability to achieve the targeted cost savings and reductions of Nortel's
unfunded pension liability deficit; any material and adverse affects on
Nortel's performance if its expectations regarding market demand for
particular products prove to be wrong or because of certain barriers in its
efforts to expand internationally; any reduction in Nortel's operating results
and any related volatility in the market price of its publicly traded
securities arising from any decline in its gross margin, or fluctuations in
foreign currency exchange rates; any negative developments associated with
Nortel's supply contract and contract manufacturing agreements including as a
result of using a sole supplier for key optical networking solutions
components, and any defects or errors in Nortel's current or planned products;
any negative impact to Nortel of its failure to achieve its business
transformation objectives, including completion of the sale of its UMTS access
business to Alcatel; additional valuation allowances for all or a portion of
its deferred tax assets; Nortel's failure to protect its intellectual property
rights, or any adverse judgments or settlements arising out of disputes
regarding intellectual property; changes in regulation of the Internet and/or
other aspects of the industry; Nortel's failure to successfully operate or
integrate its strategic acquisitions, or failure to consummate or succeed with
its strategic alliances; any negative effect of Nortel's failure to evolve
adequately its financial and managerial control and reporting systems and
processes, manage and grow its business, or create an effective risk
management strategy; and (iii) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's
liquidity, financing arrangements and capital including: the impact of
Nortel's most recent restatement and two previous restatements of its
financial statements; any inability of Nortel to manage cash flow fluctuations
to fund working capital requirements or achieve its business objectives in a
timely manner or obtain additional sources of funding; high levels of debt,
limitations on Nortel capitalizing on business opportunities because of credit
facility covenants, or on obtaining additional secured debt pursuant to the
provisions of indentures governing certain of Nortel's public debt issues and
the provisions of its credit facilities; any increase of restricted cash
requirements for Nortel if it is unable to secure alternative support for
obligations arising from certain normal course business activities, or any
inability of Nortel's subsidiaries to provide it with sufficient funding; any
negative effect to Nortel of the need to make larger defined benefit plans
contributions in the future or exposure to customer credit risks or inability
of customers to fulfill payment obligations under customer financing
arrangements; any negative impact on Nortel's ability to make future
acquisitions, raise capital, issue debt and retain employees arising from
stock price volatility and further declines in the market price of Nortel's
publicly traded securities, or any future share consolidation resulting in a
lower total market capitalization or adverse effect on the liquidity of
Nortel's common shares. For additional information with respect to certain of
these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, Quarterly
Report 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.
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