The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Motorola’s alleged plans to sell off its Home & Networks Mobility unit have been put on hold due to lower-than-expected bids for the division. The report claims that bids have fallen in the range of US$3 billion to US$4 billion, instead of the US$4 billion to US$5 billion it was hoping for. The WSJ claims that Huawei was one telecoms firm that bid for the business, as well as cable broadband vendor Arris Group. Last month Reuters reported that a number of private-equity firms submitted first-round bids, but the WSJ today claims that Goldman Sachs, one of three banks advising Motorola on the sales process, has told bidders the company prefers not to sell the unit to a private-equity firm alone.

The WSJ article adds that the next round of bids was expected to be due in mid-February, but that schedule is now in doubt, “with Motorola’s board and management set to meet in coming days to discuss the future of all its business lines and to be updated on the auction.” It is thought that Motorola could yet still proceed with the original plan and sell the business later this year. Rumours of the sale were first broken by the Wall Street Journal last November. The unit – which makes set-top boxes and networking equipment – had US$10.1 billion in 2008 sales. Motorola is keeping quiet on the development, but has previously stated it plans to split into two independent, publicly traded companies (one of which will be its mobile device division).