And so as not to miss an opportunity to push home the new Nortel mantra, he added: "This isn't just about mobile WiMax or 4G, it's about hyperconnectivity..." (See Nortel Preaches Hyperconnectivity.)

    On a separate live link from Richardson, Texas, Danny Locklear, Nortel's leader of wireless product marketing, said Mobile WiMax "will be the first 4G technology that'll be commercially offered. We're seeing tremendous uptake and momentum in WiMax, not just in existing, but in emerging markets. As we talk to cable and wireless operators we see them recognizing" the bandwidth possibilities compared with 3G.

    And it's not just cable and wireless operators that are getting calls from Nortel's WiMax team. "We see an opportunity to market WiMax to cable and DSL operators to help them reach the mass market and add mobility to their broadband offers," says Gerry Collins, Nortel's director of wireless for Europe. "Maybe mobile operators will see a gap in their portfolios for WiMax too," he adds, before suggesting that any 3G developments won't be able to keep pace with WiMax developments.

    Indeed, all the Nortel executives, given any opportunity, will now rubbish 3G and its capabilities, while extolling the virtues of OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antenna capabilities, the technology bedrocks of Nortel's WiMax developments. (See Nortel CEO: 3G Can't Cut It, All Hail OFDMA!, and Nortel Pushes MIMO.)

    But won't the lack of 3G traction make life tougher for Nortel to prove itself as a credible supplier of mobile broadband technology? "It's a challenge -– it's an issue. But look at who we sell GSM, PBT, and VOIP systems to. We have relationships with Tier 1 carriers and we focus on them," stated Collins.