Ericsson enters bidding battle for Nortel's assets

Ericsson has entered the bidding battle for Nortel's wireless assets.

The Swedish telecoms equipment manufacturer did not disclose the amount it will bid in the auction - set to take place tomorrow - but reports are suggesting a figure of $730 million (440 million).

Ericsson spokesperson Ase Lindskog said in a statement: "We always look at opportunities that can be of interest for Ericsson and create value for us, and we are participating in this process to the point it makes sense."

Ericsson goes up against the initial bid of $650 million from Nokia Siemens in addition to yesterday's new contender, private equity firm MatlinPatterson, with a bid of $725 million.

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) was also interested in Nortel's CDMA business and LTE assets but it was excluded from the running by the company's insistence that if it took part, RIM could not bid for any of its other assets for at least a year.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.