It’s an interesting sign of the times: Motorola this week defended its position for 2009 as a neutral arms vendor, noting that it provides equipment for LTE, WiMAX and fiber-to-the-home networks alike, despite the sagging economy and a troubled handset division.

CDMA-to-LTE handoff trials and over-the-air data streaming were conducted this year, while on the WiMAX front, Motorola pointed to its 25 contracts spanning 20 countries and said it shipped more than 5,000 multisector access points along with hundreds of thousands of customer-premise devices. Trials and other activities for WiMAX exist in an additional 29 countries, the company said.

Stateside, Motorola is an investor and technology partner of recently merged Sprint-Clearwire’s up-and-coming mobile WiMAX network. 

Such announcements do not mean the company is healthy. Motorola had a tough third quarter, especially because its handset division is losing market share at a rapid rate and faces renewed pressure from Nokia and from Asian competitors such as LG.