Verizon Wireless on Wednesday announced details of its plan to build one of the world’s first nationwide wireless broadband networks based on a largely untested standard called Long Term Evolution (LTE).

The winners and losers among the major equipment suppliers chosen by Verizon demonstrate a decided shift in the global balance of power away from the United States and China and toward Europe.

The winners in the lucrative project are European giants Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Nokia Siemens Networks along with the lone North American company in the deal, Starent Networks.

The obvious losers are North American companies Nortel and Motorola, both of which were on the short list of companies involved in Verizon’s LTE trial run, which was announced back in November 2007. (Verizon Adopts New Wireless Technology)

The other big loser is China’s upstart Huawei, which did not make either the short list or the final cut.

Nortel’s loss can be explained in part by the Canadian company’s financial situation.

Nortel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January and a network upgrade based on a commercially untested technology would demand longevity from its participants. (Nortel Files for Chapter 11)

“For Motorola it might be a timing issue. Motorola sometimes does not have the products available at the time when they are needed and perhaps did not get Verizon’s confidence on that score,” said Nadine Manjaro, senior analyst, wireless infrastructure, for ABI Research. (Motorola's Risky Bet on Android, Windows)

Huawei’s problem could’ve been partly geo-political and due also to the naturally conservative bent of very large telecom carriers. 

“A lot of people thought this could’ve been a breakthrough for Huawei, which is always very aggressive on price, but there could’ve been sensitivity and security issues in using a Chinese vendor,” said Matthew Thornton, telecom equipment analyst with Avian Securities.

Another reason could’ve been Verizon’s conservative decision to stick with incumbents -- companies it has worked with fairly extensively in the past, which would eliminate Huawei.

For Alcatel-Lucent, a long-term Verizon Wireless partner, this was a like sweeping the Oscars.

The Paris-based firm was chosen as a primary player in all three announced segments of the LTE project – the only supplier to achieve that goal.

“This was not just about incumbency. It was a very competitive bid process and any time you have a new divergent technology it opens the door for new competitors to penetrate,” said Ken Wirth, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Verizon Business unit.

This was a much-needed victory for Alcatel-Lucent, which has suffered eight losing quarters in a row since the trans-Atlantic merger of Alcatel and Lucent that created the company. (Alcatel-Lucent: Another Loss)

The relationship between Verizon Wireless, which is part-owned by Vodafone, and Alcatel-Lucent will test some of the fairly drastic changes Alcatel-Lucent made recently in its customer relationship strategy and its leadership matrix. (Alcatel-Lucent Calls for Overhaul)

The company and its new CEO, Ben Verwaayen, have decentralized a lot of the responsibility for its customer relationships to the various geographic groups. It has also placed a tighter focus on LTE.

So it will be just like old times to some extent as the old Lucent/North American group now headed by Robert Vrij, a recent hire, will take much of the control of the critical Verizon Wireless relationship.

“This new approach made us very responsive to Verizon’s last minute needs and requirements. This is great for both our resume and our new strategy,” Mr. Wirth said.

Verizon Wireless said it will begin offering commercial LTE service in 2010.