According to a in the Canadian national newspaper Globe and Mail, companies most likely to bid on the US$2 billion business include Cisco, Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens. The article does not say which of those companies is not bidding.

Nortel earlier this year said it would in an effort to raise cash to fund other businesses the company considers more strategic. Nortel is having trouble rebounding after an in 2004, by the current gloomy global economy.

Various analysts estimate that Nortel could fetch between $1 billion and $2 billion for MEN, though the current economic climate might lower that value.

The Globe and Mail story also says Nortel is looking to sell more assets instead of . One of them might be the company's Carrier Networks business, Nortel's bedrock.

Selling off Carrier Networks would end the century-old relationship between Nortel and the telecommunications industry, the story notes. Nortel is North America's largest supplier of telephone equipment.