Carriers anxiously wait for $20B contract decision

The U.S. government will announce this month the carrier it has selected to supply voice, data, video and wireless services through 2017. The $20 billion project, called Networx, is split into two contracts: Networx Universal includes VPNs and VoIP as well as frame relay and ATM services, and the Enterprise component of Networx will center on emerging IP and wireless services. The General Services Administration, which is the government agency overseeing the project, will announce the winner of Networx Universal this month and the Enterprise component winner in May. Here are the bidders for Networx Universal:

• AT&T, with Bechtel, Cingular Wireless, Electronic Data Systems, Global Crossing, GTSI, Northrop Grumman and SRA International.
• Qwest, with Akamai Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent, Bearing Point, Hawaiian Telecom Services, Science Applications International and Wire One Communications.
• Sprint Nextel, with Hughes Network Systems, Intercall and Lockheed Martin.
• Verizon Business, with Comtech Telecommunications, G2 Satellite Solutions, HP, Proxim Wireless Networks, WilTel Communications/Level 3 and Verizon Wireless.

Those same teams are bidding for the enterprise contract, but an additional team led by Level 3 is also bidding for it.

For more on Networx:
- read this article [1] from Wireless Week