Nortel Helps Hancock Telephone Prove Small Operators Can Provide Big Services

HANCOCK, NEW YORK, May 19 (MARKET WIRE) --
As an independent telecommunications provider with 2,000 customers in New
York and Pennsylvania, Hancock Telephone does not have the deep pockets
as do many of today's mega service providers. But thanks to new VoIP, IP
and WDM PON Ethernet Access solutions and support services from Nortel(1)
(TSX: NT)(OTCBB: NRTLQ), Hancock Telephone is now able to deliver "big
city" technologies to its customers along with the down-home customer
service they have grown to appreciate.

With a history that spans more than 100 years, Hancock Telephone(2)
offers voice, video and high speed Internet services to residential
customers and small businesses. By recently converging its voice and data
networks to IP using the Nortel Communication Server (CS) 1500 and
Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 8600, Hancock Telephone is now able to
offer its residential and business customers new advanced VoIP and data
services that are growing in demand, such as unified messaging and single
numbers service - which allows subscribers to use the same number for
their home and mobile phones. The new Nortel-based network gives Hancock
Telephone "big carrier" reliability and features at a cost that is
friendly to smaller operators.

Nortel's IP Powered Business solution also allows Hancock Telephone to
manage VoIP, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), and WiFi as well as other
essential communication services for its business customers. These
services utilize the Nortel Business Services Gateway (BSG) which can be
installed in Hancock's business customer's offices.

To accommodate these new services, Hancock Telephone is currently
evaluating a WDM-PON based Ethernet Access Solution for future deployment
in its network infrastructure. The solution, which was developed by
LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel, uses fiber
connections to the home or office to provide users with access at faster
speeds of 100Mbps or 1000 Mbps. This not only positions Hancock Telephone
to offer high performance business applications and bundle voice, video
and Internet services over a single connection to the home, but can
create new revenue opportunities based on future high-bandwidth
applications.

To ensure a seamless implementation of these various new technologies and
services, Nortel will provide Hancock Telephone with professional
services support to completely design, build and manage the entire
network.

"As an independent service provider for residential customers in the New
York area, Nortel's ability to help us cost-effectively move to new
technologies is key to our success and our customer's satisfaction," said
Robert Wrighter Jr., vice president, Hancock Telephone Company. "Nortel
is helping us provide the latest technology and services to our customers
at a price they can afford."

"Hancock Telephone is a great example of how small operators can provide
the latest technology and services to their customers using Nortel
solutions," said Peter MacKinnon, chairman and general manager,
LG-Nortel. "Their recent trial of Ethernet Fiber Access solutions from
LG-Nortel provides Hancock a foundational fiber infrastructure for
delivering next generation ultra broadband services to residential and
business customers alike that are as innovative as the larger telco
operators."

Hancock Telephone is hosting an "open house" event at its Hancock, New
York, facility May 19-20 to allow other independent service providers in
the region to see live demos of its service offerings. The event will
host a dozen independent operators from around the region, showing live
demonstrations of the above technologies in Hancock Telephone's network.

About Nortel

Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities
that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our
customers. Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider
and enterprise networks, support multimedia and business-critical
applications. Nortel's technologies are designed to help eliminate
today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying
networks and connecting people to the information they need, when they
need it. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries around the
world. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com.
For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.

Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as
"could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends",
"estimates", "targets", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language
and are considered forward-looking statements or information under
applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel's
current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the
operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates.
These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and
uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may
be materially different from those contemplated in forward-looking
statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these
and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form10-K, Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless
otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.

(1)Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel
Networks.

(2)This is a 3rd party link as described in our Web linking practices.

Contacts:
Nortel
Bo Gowan
972-685-8278
bogowan@nortel.com

Nortel
Karen Monaghan
613-763-1133
kmonagha@nortel.com
www.nortel.com

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