Nortel to sell China JV assets to Ericsson

BEIJING, CHINA: Nortel Networks Corp, the fallen Canadiantelecom giant, said it will sell nearly all assets of its Chinese joint ventureto Ericsson's China unit for $50 million in cash. The joint venture --Guangdong Nortel Telecommunication Equipment -- is a research, development andmanufacturing firm in which Nortel's units, Nortel Networks Ltd and NortelChina, own 62 percent.

GDNT became a supplier to Ericsson after the Swedish mobilenetwork equipment maker bought Nortel's CDMA and GSM businesses. Nortel, onceNorth America's biggest telecommunications equipment maker, filed forbankruptcy protection in January 2009 and has been auctioning off its businessin an effort to pay back debtholders.

All employees of the joint venture will be offeredemployment with Ericsson, Nortel said in a statement.

Nortel expects to close the sale in the first quarter of2011.