Nortel to offload its GSM Business
Nortel announced on wednesday that it is planning to sell off its GSM and GSM-R (GSM for railways) assets via an open auction process due to be held on November 9, 2009. The transaction will include GSM related patents and non-exclusive licenses to other relevant patents.
Subject to approval of the bidding procedures filed with the US and Canadian courts, qualifying bidders will need to submit offers for the assets by November 5, 2009.
Earlier in September, Avaya emerged as the winning bidder for Nortel’s corporate communications unit, with an offer of close to a billion dollars.
Earlier in August, the CEO and president of Nortel, Mike Zafirovski had announced his resignation effective immediately.
Nortel Boosts Investment in WiMax for Faster Wireless Internet
Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — Nortel Networks Corp., the largest North American maker of telephone gear, said it’s betting on the increased adoption of faster wireless Internet technology.
During 2006, the company has more than doubled its investment in a standard known as WiMax, said Peter MacKinnon, a Nortel general manager, in an interview yesterday. He declined to give specific figures. The technology gives phone companies the ability to deliver high-speed services including video over wireless devices.
“Earlier this year, we started looking at the wireless road map and it became clear that we needed to start investing heavily,” said MacKinnon, 44, from the WiMax World USA conference that starts today in Boston. “We’ve redirected resources from across the company.”
The shift is part of Chief Executive Officer Mike Zafirovski’s plan to focus on markets where Nortel can attain a 20 percent share. Last month, the Brampton, Ontario-based company sold a separate mobile-equipment unit to Alcatel SA for $320 million, enabling Zafirovski, who joined the company in November, to increase investment in other areas.
“Early on in his tenure, Mike decided WiMax was a very important bet for the company,” MacKinnon said.
Sprint, Intel
He’s not alone. Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest U.S. mobile-phone service provider, said in August it will commit as much as $3 billion to the standard, using equipment from Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Inc. Intel Corp., the world’s biggest chipmaker, spent four years and more than $1 billion developing and promoting its adoption.
Nortel’s first WiMax customers will be carriers around the world who plan to offer traditional Internet services over a faster wireless connection, while the second wave of users will advance to mobile and handheld devices, MacKinnon said.
Nortel yesterday announced that Golden Telecom Inc., a phone and Web services provider in the former Soviet Union, is using its mobile WiMax on a trial basis in Moscow.
Shares of Nortel closed unchanged yesterday at $2.16 on the New York Stock Exchange. They’ve dropped 29 percent this year.
Source- http://www.bloomberg.com
