BT Group – formerly known as British Telecom – unveiled its eight preferred suppliers for a five-year, US$19-billion contract today for a new high-speed Internet network. It was good news for Cisco, Lucent, Siemens, Huawei, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Ciena and Alcatel. It was bad news, however, for Nortel, which watched Ciena and Huawei win the optical business. It was terrible news for Marconi, which generates 25% of its revenue from BT. Marconi shares tumbled as much as 39% today once investors got over the shock of Marconi's exclusion.. For Nortel, the troubling news is Huawei's inclusion in the group of eight. Huawei is emerging as legitimate and viable technology choice for carriers rather than being rregarded a low-cost supplier. Of course, Huawei's growing credibility could be bad news for Cisco and Juniper down the road.
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