- Advanced Optical and Wireless Backhaul Technologies Increase Network Capacity and Decrease Operator Costs

SEOUL – LG-Nortel - the LG Electronics and Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] joint venture - is helping SK Telecom deliver new wireless services such as wireless Internet, 3D gaming, digital home services and telematics. The LG-Nortel solution handles increased volumes of high-speed wireless traffic while significantly improving network cost-effectiveness, scalability and reliability. The solution supports wireless backhaul – the communications traffic between the cell towers and the network.

The new, high-performance Metro Ethernet wireless backhaul infrastructure is already in service, and will support the optimization of over 7,000 wireless base stations nationwide, once fully deployed. The rollout enhances SK Telecom’s position as Korea’s largest wireless communications operator as the take up of new next-generation wireless services takes off throughout Korea.

According to SK Telecom, by upgrading the existing wireless backhaul network to this next-generation Metro Ethernet solution, the company can easily and cost-effectively deliver high-speed wireless broadband services and reduce current and future wireless backhaul expenses by up to 40 percent. SK Telecom chose LG-Nortel for this large-scale investment in the future because of the company’s leadership in delivering both wireless and optical solutions. SK Telecom’s satisfaction with the 10G optical backbone from Nortel that has carried its advanced multimedia services for the past several years was also a key factor in that decision.

The new infrastructure supports SK Telecom’s existing 2G, 3G and next-generation wireless services, including current wireless multimedia offerings like multimedia messaging, satellite DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) and WiBro.

“SK Telecom’s enhanced wireless capabilities lay the foundation for their customers to enjoy next-generation services, such as mobile video and streaming media. LG-Nortel’s wireless backhaul solution builds on Nortel’s experience and reputation, gained through meeting the needs of over 40 of the world’s largest mobile operators in recent years,” said Peter MacKinnon, chairman, LG-Nortel. “Leveraging both this global expertise and our ability to provide solutions that are flexible, cost-efficient and scalable is critical to LG-Nortel’s increasingly important role in the rapidly evolving next-generation wireless communications environment.”

The components of the LG-Nortel Metro Ethernet backhaul solution for SK Telecom are the Nortel Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6110 and 6130 multiservice access products as well as the OME 6500 next-generation multiservice convergence platform – both part of Nortel’s IP/Ethernet-centric Metro Ethernet Networks Mobile Backhaul Solutions portfolio. The small and compact OME 6110/6130 devices are used to provide the cell site concentration before the wireless traffic is transported over SONET/SDH, CWDM or Ethernet to the OME 6500 for aggregation and grooming into an efficient and scalable core.