Canada’s Nortel Networks has announced plans to sell-off its packet core assets business, one of the last remaining business units at the bankrupt vendor. In a statement, Nortel said that it has filed a motion at a US Bankruptcy Court that will allow qualified bidders to submit offers for the business. A similar motion for the approval of the sale procedure will be filed with Canada’s Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Any sale would be subject to approval by both the US and Canadian courts. The business unit contains the assets of its Carrier Networks business associated with the development of Next Generation Packet Core network components. The business consists of software to support the transfer of data over existing wireless networks and the next generation of wireless communications technology, including relevant non-patent intellectual property, equipment and other related tangible assets. However, Nortel added that its shareholders would not receive the proceeds from the sale.

The auction will be the third concerning Nortel assets since the vendor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the beginning of the year. Ericsson acquired Nortel’s CDMA and LTE access assets via auction in July for US$1.13 billion, and earlier this month the courts approved a US$915 million deal for Nortel to sell its enterprise business to Avaya. Nortel is also looking to sell-off its majority stake (50 percent + 1 share) in LG-Nortel, its South Korean joint venture with LG Electronics. To date, Sony Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and two private equity firms have been linked to acquiring the stake.