Motorola, Nortel Talk Joint Venture

Latest deal in ailing telecom-equipment industry
By Laila Weir,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 11, 2008 12:53 PM CST
Motorola, Nortel Talk Joint Venture
Gordon Davies,left, acting Chief Legal Officer of Nortel Networks, Mike Zafirovski, center, president and CEO of Nortel Networks and Harry Pearce, right, Chairman of the Board of Nortel Networks prepare to begin Nortel Networks' annual general meeting in Ottawa, Wednesday, May 2, 2007. (AP Photo/CP,...   (Associated Press)

Motorola and Nortel are in talks about a possible merger of their wireless-infrastructure units, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal. In the works is a joint venture with Nortel holding a majority stake and likely revenues of around $10 billion from sales of network equipment for wireless phone carriers. The talks are separate from a push for Motorola to sell or spin off its handset business.

The talks represent the latest in a wave of deals that has consolidated the slowing telecom-equipment industry. If both projects go through, Motorola will be a much smaller company focused on making two-way radio equipment, hand-held devices for workers, and cable-industry equipment. (More cell phone industry stories.)

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