Three years after then CEO Bill Owens spoke of how Nortel would defend its markets from the threat of competition from ZTE and Huawei, an article from Light Reading suggests that Huawei may be the most likely candidate to acquire Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Network division.
Earlier this year, Huawei’s attempt to purchase 3Com was derailed by US national security concerns about Huawei’s ties to the Chinese military.
Nortel has deployed a lot of metro optical equipment in local exchange carrier networks in Canada and around the world, serving government clients, including defense and intelligence organizations.
To what extent will national security concerns in Canada and the US play a role in Nortel’s divestment plans?