Nortel Networks to auction Metro unit today

Canadian firm Nortel Networks is today holding an auction in New York for its optical networking and carrier ethernet business, Metro Ethernet Networks. Nortel, which was North AmericaÔÇÖs largest telecoms equipment maker, entered bankruptcy protection in January, before announcing in June that it no longer planned to continue operations and would sell off all of its business units. The Toronto, Ontario-based company has been selling off various operations since then, and has raised more than $2 billion to date. Assets have already been sold to Japanese electronics manufacturer Hitachi, Stockholm, Sweden-based Ericsson and New Jersey-based Avaya. Ciena Corp. and Nokia Siemens Networks are currently believed to be the only two qualified bidders for Metro.  Espoo, Finland-based Nokia Siemens is teaming up with One Equity Partners LLC to make its offer, the value of which has not yet been revealed. Linthicum, Maryland-based Ciena, which makes fiber-optic equipment for the major US phone companies, has already offered $521 million for the unit. The auction winner stands to gain Nortel customers in Asia and Europe, including SpainÔÇÖs Telef├│nica SA. On November 13, Nortel extended the bidding deadline for Metro until November 17, after confirming it had held talks with interested parties.  It is 14 months since Nortel originally announced its desire to sell the unit. The company revealed this weak that sales in the Metro division fell 26 percent to $295 million in the third quarter of 2009 from a year earlier. Several other Nortel assets are currently still in operation, including a carrier voice business and joint ventures in South Korea and Turkey.  Nortel has delayed until next week the auction of its GSM wireless assets, which had been due also to take place today.  Founded in Qu├®bec in 1895, the company had just over 32,000 employees in 1998, a year before it filed for bankruptcy protection.  *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *