Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is believed to have secured the infrastructure deal for T-Mobile International AG's commercial push-to-talk (PTT) service in the carrier's home German market.

Several anonymous sources close to the deal have told Unstrung that Nokia has been awarded the infrastructure contract. The vendor has already been announced as sole handset supplier.

Nokia, naturally, is keeping its lips sealed: "We haven't announced anything, so I'm afraid it's not up to us to comment [on] this one," says a Nokia spokeswoman.

Analysts believe that Nokia is the obvious candidate. "I'd be very surprised if Nokia were not supplying the... infrastructure," comments Gartner Inc.'s Jason Chapman. "Given that T-Mobile is going to be using Nokia's 5140 handsets, it seems to lead towards Nokia also providing the associated infrastructure."

T-Mobile is aiming to become Europe's second carrier to launch a PTT service. "Commercial launch [is] slated for the end of the year," the company notes in a statement. T-Mobile declined to provide further details.

Last month Orange SA (London/Paris: OGE) became the first European carrier to launch PTT services, deploying kit from startup Kodiak Networks (see Orange Pushes in Europe and Orange Pushes Startup).

PTT allows people to use their phones as walkie-talkies, merely pushing a button to talk to another user or group of users. PTT has already experienced significant success in the U.S., with Nextel claiming to generate around 20 percent of its revenue from the technology.

— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung