Nortel to auction off GSM/GSM-R business

Nortel is set to sell off its global GSM/GSM-R business through an “open auction” process, in the latest attempt to auction out the bankruptcy company’s assets.
 
The GSM auction, said Nortel, would give bidders time to assess what is on offer.
 
“The proposed sale will provide a timeline for identifying the successful bidder for the company’s valuable GSM/GSM-R assets,” Pavi Binning, chief restructuring officer at Nortel, said in a statement. 
 
He said the company had “seen interest” in the business during initial discussions.
 
The sale is subject to approval by US and Canadian bankruptcy courts. The bid deadline is November 5, and the winner will be announced on November 9.
 
According to Nortel, more than 100 mobile operators in over 65 countries have deployed its GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks.
 
Nortel, which announced last month to sell off its packet core network business, has already auctioned off its enterprise and CDMA assets since its file for bankruptcy in January.
 
Avaya bought the former for $915 million, while Ericsson picked up the latter for $1.13 billion.