NSN could have another bite at Nortel, with VoIP unit

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NSN could have another bite at Nortel, with VoIP unit

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 23 December, 2009

READ MORE: M&A | Canada | Nortel Networks | Nokia Siemens Networks | VoIP

One of the key features of the wireless business in 2009 has been the bankruptcy and gradual break-up of Nortel. Most of the component parts of the once mighty Canadian firm have now been auctioned off, but a few remain, and one analyst believes the Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions business could be sold as early as next week.

A court approved decision on the winning bid is expected in January, according to a research note from Catharine Trebnick of Avian Securities. She names potential acquirers as being Nokia Siemens - which lost out to Ericsson in the larger CDMA/LTE business - along with Genband, NEC and Sonus. There could also be a consortium bid, by a group of firms that would then divide the spoils.

"Our dark horse bidder is NEC. Our unlikely candidates are Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Huawei," Trebnick states in the report, as quoted in Network World, though Nortel, predictably, did not comment.

Although it might not seem a good time for NSN to be making acquisitions, given its own precarious financial state, Nortel's unit could bring it increased presence in north America - a benefit it had hoped to gain from the purchase of the CDMA/LTE operations. Their overnight transformation of Ericsson's north American position (helped by its previous large deals with Verizon for LTE and Sprint for outsourcing) show what a prize NSN missed. The Carrier VoIP unit would not have such a dramatic effect, but it is one of Nortel's healthiest divisions, with a very strong market rank in a key growth area for operators. In particular, it would get NSN deeper into AT&T, which has more than 1,500 Nortel DMS switches.

In Trebnick's opinion, NSN would gain considerable revenue and cost synergies and would be better placed to exploit the VoIP division's potential, since it has larger product range and sales coverage than Sonus or Genband.

Carrier VoIP and Applications Solutions, which employs 2,500 people, is an $800m business, representing about 10% of Nortel's annual revenue.

This week, another Nortel business changed hands, with Avaya finalizing its purchase of the Enterprise Solutions Group and taking on about 6,000 employees. Joel Hackney, previously president of the Nortel division, has joined the Avaya executive committee as senior VP and president of the Cisco rival's government solutions and data operation. To date, Nortel has also sold off its CDMA/LTE, GSM/app switch and Metro Ethernet businesses.

Also rumored to be selling off assets is Motorola, which is said to be evaluating a plan to break into four, and potentially spin out, or sell, its three infrastructure businesses - enterprise, set-top boxes and wireless networks. The last two are currently housed in one division, but could well appeal to different acquirers, and a Reuters report claims that the set-top activities have attracted interest from a group of private equity firms. These are Bain Capital, the Blackstone Group, KKR, Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital, all said to have put in early (and non-binding) bids before. Arris is also said to be a possible partner with one of the PE firms, though no other equipment makers are named. Motorola has still not confirmed any plans to offload its non-handset units.