Ericsson buys Nortel’s GSM assets in North America

Having successfully completed the purchase of Nortel Network’s CDMA and LTE assets, Ericsson announced plans to buy the bankrupt network manufacturer’s GSM assets in the U.S. and Canada for $70 million. Austrian-based Kapsch CarrierComm AG is picking up the rest of Nortel’s GSM business for about $33 million.
The deal, if it meets regulatory and other approvals, will give Ericsson another 350 Nortel employees, as well as contracts with AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA Inc. Ericsson will count 14,500 employees after the transaction is finished. “Along with our recent acquisition of Nortel’s CDMA and LTE assets, the transaction emphasizes Ericsson’s commitment to the North American market and strengthens our position as a leading provider of telecommunications technology and services in the United States and Canada” said Hans Vestberg, incoming President and CEO of Ericsson. “Our Ericsson family will be once again enriched by the addition of the valuable Nortel employees.”
North America is now Ericsson’s most important geographic sales region and its second-largest employment reagion. The world’s largest infrastructure vendor earlier this year won a seven-year contract to run Sprint Nextel Corp.’s network.