Motorola has received interest in its handset unit from foreign telecom equipment makers, according to a mergermarket.com report cited today by Reuters. The report claims that “leading Asian telecommunications equipment and device makers” are interested in discussing some form of partnership after initially rejecting a deal. Until now Motorola is believed to have faced difficulty finding a potential partner for its handset unit, which in January it admitted it was considering spinning off.

Chinese mobile phone manufacturer ZTE told Reuters at the Mobile World Congress last month that it was in talks with Motorola about a wider cooperation, but declined to comment at the time about a potential acquisition of the handset unit. Motorola CEO Greg Brown has taken major steps in recent months to attempt to return the mobile unit to profit and halt a slide in market share. Brown is on the lookout for a new leader of the division following the departure of Stu Reed. Reed’s move last week was the latest in a host of recent executive changes at the company. Chief Marketing Officer Kenneth Keller left the company less than eighteen months after taking the job. In December, Motorola lost its CTO Padmasree Warrior to Cisco Systems, whilst late last year Ed Zander, who had been President and CEO, handed control to Brown.