First it was BT which announced that it was planning to turn off its PSTN by 2010 and offer only IP-based service. Now Norwegian incumbent Telenor ASA is heading in the same direction. Telenor's Sten Nordell told Unstrung that, "Convergence will have an impact on the architecture of our network. We are a mobile operator and a broadcaster," as well as being a fixed-line service provider, "and we have had to consider all these aspects."

Nordell said Telenor will do things differently from BT, even if the goal of an all-IP service is the same. Specifically, Telenor will deploy a different access architecture and rely more heavily on an Ethernet-based infrastructure. The Norwegian carrier has selected Juniper as its sole provider of core and edge IP routers and Transmode Systems for edge and access CWDM systems. Another difference between the two companies -- BT said its migration to the new all-IP network will cost about $18 billion, while Telenor is more circumspect. "BT has been open about its numbers, but we don't talk publicly about our costs," Nordell said.

For more on Telenor's decision:
- see Ray Le Maistre's Unstrung story
- visit Telenor's website
- read Juniper's press release