All five carriers that bid on the U.S. government’s 10-year, multibillion-dollar Networx Enterprise program were awarded contracts on Thursday, opening up the federal telecommunications market to more competition than ever before.

The Networx Enterprise winners are AT&T, Level 3 Communications, Qwest Government Services, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Business. Networx Enterprise will provide secure, managed and wireless IP services nationwide to federal agencies.

Networx Enterprise is the second half of the federal government’s long-awaited Networx program, which has an estimated value of $20 billion through the next decade. Networx will provide domestic and international telecom services including voice, data, video and wireless services to 135 federal agencies. It is the world’s largest telecom program.

Networx is the primary way that federal agencies will upgrade their networks to support such new technologies as VoIP and IPv6, the next-generation Internet Protocol; as well as meet their needs for security, business continuity and disaster recovery.

"Agencies will be able to buy a more total solutions package than they have been able to buy in the past,"  says Diana Gowen, senior vice president and general manager of Qwest Government Services. "We plan to work with them to develop comprehensive solutions for their biggest pain points. That was not easily accomplished under FTS 2001, which had a more limited set of [services]."

Networx is divided into two parts: Networx Enterprise and Networx Universal. While Networx Enterprise provides emerging IP services nationally, Networx Universal provides comprehensive network services globally.