Supports Government's Vision for National Broadband Connectivity by 2010 TOKYO, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) and Toshiba Corporation are working with the Japanese government on a next-generation wireless trial using WiMAX solutions from Nortel to deliver mobile high-speed broadband services in the northern Tohoku region. The trial, being conducted by the Tohoku Bureau of Telecommunications, a regional arm of Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), is part of MIC's 'Next Generation Broadband Strategy 2010.' The vision is targeting anywhere, anytime connectivity for all citizens by 2010 through universal broadband services supporting Internet access, VoIP, video conferencing, interactive gaming and other high-bandwidth services. MIC selected Ishinomaki, a port city on Honshu Island in Tohoku's Miyagi Prefecture, as the site for the trial because of the limited availability of broadband access. Nortel's Mobile WiMAX solution addresses this issue by using advanced transmission techniques to provide 'last mile' connectivity without the cost and complexity of laying copper wire. "Nortel has a strong track record in the development and implementation of next-generation WiMAX as a wireless broadband technology," said Nick Vreugdenhil, president, Japan, Nortel. "Through our collaboration with both MIC and Toshiba on this trial, Nortel's WiMAX solutions will be applied to help MIC further its objectives for universal broadband services throughout the nation regardless of location or the challenges of difficult terrain." Nortel will provide base stations and terminals from its WiMAX portfolio for the trial as well as engineering services. Toshiba Corporation will handle system integration and field tests. Nortel base stations will be installed in public facilities within the test area to allow close monitoring of changes and fluctuations in coverage caused by varying environmental conditions and the use of high-bandwidth applications like VoIP or multimedia. The Nortel solution is fully IEEE802.16-e compliant and will run on the 2.5GHz frequency band. It supports hundreds of multi-megabit users per cell site and supports both fixed and mobile WiMAX applications. Nortel's WiMAX solution delivers three to five times the efficiency at roughly three to five times the speed of today's commercially deployed 3G cellular networks at as little as one-tenth the cost per bit. Nortel's Mobile WiMAX solution is built on a foundation of OFDM-MIMO, a combination of innovative transmission and antenna technologies that maximizes spectrum to deliver the lightning-fast speeds and high bandwidth essential to high-quality mobile video and TV. The power and performance of Nortel's solution provides substantial savings to operators because WiMAX delivers high-speed, broadband fixed and mobile services wirelessly to large areas with much less infrastructure than is needed today. Nortel is a pioneer in OFDM-MIMO and supports both technologies in the initial release of its Mobile WiMAX solution. Currently, Nortel is trialing its WiMAX solutions with a number of carriers around the world, notably in Taiwan, Germany, Canada, Greece, Russia and Mexico. Nortel is also working with key industry leaders and suppliers to develop a full end-to-end MIMO-enabled WiMAX ecosystem, and recently announced a Center of Excellence for Devices in Taipei, focused on the development of a wide range of WiMAX devices, including USB devices, PCMCIA cards, home gateways, portable PCs, PDAs and more. 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 http://www.nortel.com/. For the latest Nortel news, visit http://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 approval of its proposed class action settlement; 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-Lucent; 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 support 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 support facility; 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 the 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 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. (x) Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks. DATASOURCE: Nortel CONTACT: Sachi Murakami, +81-3-5740-1749, ; Jamie Moody, (972) 684-7167,

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