The world's largest network infrastructure supplier Ericsson is the primary suitor to purchase the business support systems (BSS) unit of struggling competitor Nokia Siemens Networks. Sources familiar with the matter report that the BSS unit was among the assets Nokia was looking at selling, but a deal could not be confirmed.
Nokia Siemens Network is in the process of cutting prices, and is expected to slash 17.000 of its workforce in an effort to improve its finances. Ericsson has been expanding rapidly with consistent quarterly profits, and is viewed as the leading candidate for the purchase of the BSS unit. Other potential buyers include US-based Amdocs Ltd, and other private equity firms. The business is expected to sell for as much as $377 million dollars.
"As we announced in November, Nokia Siemens Networks believes that the future of our industry is in mobile broadband and we are intensifying our strategic focus on that area," Nokia Siemens spokesman Ben Hunt said yesterday. Hunt declined to comment specifically on the sale of the BSS unit.
If the sale is completed, the sale of the unit would be the most recent in a string of asset sales. Nokia Siemens completed the sale of its microwave transport business in June, and finished the sale of its broadband access business in May.
