CANNES, FRANCE--While neither company has announced a formal relationship, European wireless carrier Orange and Nortel Networks demonstrated a working HSDPA network at the GSM World Congress today, possibly foreshadowing a trial agreement or a potential 3G contract.

The demonstration utilized Orange's UMTS network in Cannes, Nortel's HSDPA basestation and laptop cards from Sierra Wireless.

While Orange hasn't committed to HSDPA partners yet, Nortel has made significant headway in Europe with the technology, landing a multi-country deal with MMO2 for the UMTS upgrade. Such a deal with a European carrier would also offset Nortel's recent disappointment in the U.S. when it wasn't named as one of Cingular's key suppliers for UMTS/HSDPA, despite launching the carrier's first two 3G networks under AT&T Wireless.