July 27th, 2009
Ericsson wins Nortel's prized wireless unit
Ericsson is on a mobile tear and this time has landed Nortel’s most prized asset, the wireless equipment unit focused on carriers’ next-gen technologies.
Specifically, Ericsson said Friday that it acquired Nortel’s CDMA and Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology portfolio for $1.13 billion. Ericsson’s bid edged out the price offered by rival Nokia Siemens.
A bevy of companies have been picking over Nortel’s assets as the company restructures in bankruptcy.
Ericsson’s Nortel win comes just a few weeks after the company announced a deal to run Sprint’s day-to-day network operations. With Nortel’s wireless. Simply put, Ericsson has really bolstered its wireless equipment and services business in North America and will have 14,000 employees.
Nortel’s CDMA and LTE unit had 2008 revenue of $2 billion. To put that in context, Ericsson’s wireless equipment business in North America, which focuses on GSM and WCDMA equipment, had $2.7 billion in sales in 2008.
In a statement, Ericsson said:
- Nortel’s LTE business will expand Ericsson’s footprint in North America.
- 2,500 Nortel wireless employees will join Ericsson.
- Ericsson plans to be in position to help customers migrate from CDMA to LTE. For instance, Verizon is a Nortel-now-Ericsson customer and is making the move to LTE from CDMA.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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