The ball of the pretenders is therefore open

Will that Nortel at the end of the restructuring plan of the last chance is developing at this moment The issue stirs up the telecoms sector since the Canadian manufacturer is placed under the protection of the American law on bankruptcy mid-January. An element is acquired: the ex-icône of the Canadian high-tech does not have the means remain on all its businesses. Between its equipment for telecom operators, those for business, its division that makes the networks Ethernet and optical, Nortel will have to make tough choices. The ball of the pretenders is therefore open. And everyone seems to want to make its market among the assets of Nortel.

One of the larger "pieces" of the Canadian OEM concerns the equipment of networks for operators. This division is, alone, 41 of the turnover of Nortel and it has the merit to be beneficial. She visibly interested top point Nokia Siemens Networks, which, according to "The Wall Street Journal" of yesterday, made an offer of surrender last month.

The interest of this joint venture formed in 2007 by Nokia and Siemens is not really surprising. It has to be at the two-

th in the world in mobile networks behind Ericsson, it never succeeded in their place across the Atlantic. Last year, Nokia Siemens Networks has been realized that 698 million euros of turnover to the United States, less than 5 of its total sales... A true repudiation when we know that one-third of the worldwide network equipment sales are in North America. "A takeover of this part of Nortel allow Nokia Siemens to establish a foothold in the United States, where Nortel has important customers such as Verizon or Sprint," explained Julien Grivolas, analyst at Ovum.

Nortel is mainly present in the mobile networks in the U.S. standard CDMA, a technology which is not this Nokia Siemens. "If the market of the CDMA itself is declining, imagine that the acquisition of Nortel installed base would give a better position to Nokia Siemens to meet the migration of networks to the LTE", continues the Ovum analyst.

Other nuggets

In this perspective, Nokia Siemens would be also interested in technology LTE for Nortel, intended to replace term European standard GSM or CDMA networks. The Verizon Wireless American is one of the first operators in the world to have decided to migrate to this new standard. And just select Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson as key network providers. Nokia Siemens has been selected to manage applications while Nortel was rejected. The bankruptcy implementation, it is true, what cool clients...

Despite its financial difficulties, the Canadian has other nuggets. It thus occupies a significant place in telephony for business networks. And, also, the players in the sector are positioned: Avaya, Siemens Enterprise Communications (held by the Gores Group California Fund) and the Golden Gate Capital Fund have all filed three redemption offers. As the division Ethernet and optical, Nortel intended to sell it in the fall of last to escape bankruptcy. But the manufacturer found no payee at a good price and therefore could not escape to the protection of the courts. If the contenders for the recovery of the assets of Nortel are legion, it is unlikely that they are shown very generous. That does not help Nortel to determine its strategy and its future perimeter of activity.