Approximately 680 former Nortel employees in Ottawa have been offered jobs by Ericsson, following its US$1.13-billion purchase of the fallen telecom giant's wireless division. An Ericsson spokesperson confirmed to OBJ that the company is planning to hire roughly 800 Canadian employees and 2,500 staff globally from the ranks of Nortel's long-term evolution and code-division multiple access businesses, which Ericsson bought in July following an auction that attracted the interest of original bidder Nokia Siemens Networks, New York-based private equity firm MatlinPatterson and Research In Motion Ltd. ( TSX:RIM ). Nortel's former staff have until the end of the day to accept Ericsson's offer, with 99 per cent already indicating they will take the job. However, Ericsson is also waiting to see if Industry Canada will perform an official review of the deal The number of hires matches a previous pledge by Nokia Siemens . The news comes ahead of a similar auction for Nortel's enterprise solutions business, which takes place Sept. 11. Avaya, the initial "stalking horse" bidder, put in an offer for US$475 million back in July. As well, the Financial Times reported Thursday that Siemens Enterprise Communications - a joint venture between German telecom firm Siemens and U.S.-based private equity firm Gores Group - has won approval to bid for the division. The process is expected to be closely watched as several companies have protested Avaya's efforts to buy the enterprise business. Earlier media reports said a group of telecom industry companies has complained to the U.S. Department of Justice that an Avaya-Nortel union would create an unfair "duopoly" controlling nearly 80 per cent of the enterprise market. As well, Verizon Communications Inc. is arguing that such a purchase would endanger law enforcement, anti-terrorism and national security interests in the United States, since Verizon's customers could be left without communications network support, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Verizon currently has support contracts with Nortel, but it said Avaya is refusing to take on those deals as well if it wins the auction.
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