Research in Motion is calling on the federal government to review the auction of Nortel Networks’ assets, claiming it was shut out of bidding for the troubled network hardware maker’s wireless properties.
Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of the BlackBerry maker, said his company was prepared to put down as much as US$1.1 billion for Nortel’s code division multiple access (CDMA)and Long Term Evolution (LTE) businesses, but restrictive conditions levelled on RIM’s bid is preventing the company from keeping Nortel’s assets in Canadian hands.
On June 19, Nokia Siemens Networks offered US$650 million for Nortel’s carrier wireless assets, but comparing this to RIM’s bid is not an “apples to apples” comparison, said Mark Tauschek, lead analyst with London, Ont.-based Info-Tech Research Group.
He was referring to the statement in a Research in Motion press release that the Waterloo, Ont. company is seeking, in addition to Nortel’s CDMA and LTE business, “certain other Nortel assets.”
It was not immediately clear what those “certain other” assets are.
“They’re probably trying to buy some intellectual property in conjunction with it,” Tauschek said.
Mark Tauschek, VP of IT Research – Infrastructure, shares his perspective in this article: