The six billion dollar men

Verizon Wireless and Alcatel-Lucent have announced a three-year agreement valued at a whopping $6 billion for Alcatel-Lucent to supply network equipment, software and services supporting Verizon Wireless’ ongoing network expansion; Alcatel-Lucent was Verizon’s chief network infrastructure before the deal was signed.

The equipment, software and services from Alcatel-Lucent will theoretically give Verizon Wireless the opportunity to further increase coverage and capacity of its broadband access data network based on CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A technology. Verizon will also be introducing new A-IMS services including Voice over IP, push-to-x, and mobile video telephony through deployment of various components of Alcatel-Lucent’s IMS solution.

Finally, the agreement calls for Alcatel-Lucent to enhance Verizon Wireless’ existing CDMA2000 1X network. Extant Alcatel-Lucent-supplied packet switches will be upgraded to support IP soft handoff and transcoder free operation, and the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 Service Router will also provide IP routing and ethernet aggregation.