dslreports logo
 story category
Nortel Files For Bankruptcy Protection
Already struggling company couldn't weather telecom spending cuts...
Nortel Networks, North America's biggest maker of telephone equipment, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday. According to Reuters, the former telecom juggernaut has $4.5 billion in debt, and issued the filing a day before they were due to make an interest payment of about $107 million. Nortel's troubles are primarily a result of increased competition from outfits like Alcatel-Lucent, and Huawei Technologies, though a recession-triggered cut in spending among telecom operators didn't help. Nortel's stock has had an entertaining ride, going from a one time brief high of $850 a share, to less than a quarter per share. Less entertaining was the ride for employees, given that tens of thousands lost their jobs during the Nortel slide to the bottom.
view:
topics flat nest 

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Sweet!

Bring on the fire sale!

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Nortel big deal company in Canada

The possible breakup of Nortel due to bankruptcy would be a big loss to Canada business and employment. Bad timing in a down economy.

Canadian press is worried about the impact:
»business.theglobeandmail ··· ess/home
Former technology titan Nortel Networks Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, a move that will likely see what was once Canada's great corporate success story broken up and sold to foreign rivals.

“It is an iconic Canadian name and there will be a great national grieving over this,” said one person familiar with Nortel's plans.

The court filing will come as a shock to the company's bondholders, who had expected Nortel to pay its debts this week. Shareholders will likely see their holdings all but wiped out.

As a consequence of filing for protection, Nortel can expect to lose significantly more business, potentially sending the company into a death spiral, analysts say.

In addition to selling the Ethernet unit, divisions that could go on the auction block include the carrier networks unit, which sells gear to phone companies, and the enterprise division that sells telecom equipment to businesses. Potential buyers for these units are all foreign: Nokia Siemens Networks, Telefon AB LM Ericsson, Cisco Systems Inc. and China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

adisor19
join:2004-10-11

adisor19

Member

Re: Nortel big deal company in Canada

WoW, i never thought I'd see the day that i would actually agree with you on something..

But there it is : I agree with you. Nortel closing would be a huge blow to the already fragile Canadian economy :s

Adi

TSI Gabe
Router of Packets
Premium Member
join:2007-01-03
Gatineau, QC

TSI Gabe

Premium Member

Poor Bell

A good portion of their network gear is composed of Nortel equipment.
ditka_b
Premium Member
join:2001-10-05
Barrington, IL

ditka_b

Premium Member

Re: Poor Bell

They'll be saved or bought. A very large portion of Cell co. equiptment is Nortel and utilities won't be allowed to fail in a poor economy. Does anyone smell another 4 billion from Santa err.. I mean the US GOV bail out?

Glaice
Brutal Video Vault
Premium Member
join:2002-10-01
North Babylon, NY

Glaice

Premium Member

Re: Poor Bell

Sssshhhh.... don't give them ideas!
ditka_b
Premium Member
join:2001-10-05
Barrington, IL

ditka_b

Premium Member

Re: Poor Bell

LOL
Well they will not allow the interruption of any utilities in any economy it's just a fact. And the 4.2 billion debt will be swallowed up (Sale) or paid off (by tax payers)more likely.
EPS4
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

EPS4 to ditka_b

Member

to ditka_b
The US gov't? Damnit, Nortel is a Canadian company, if someone has to bail them out can't the Canadians do it?

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

fifty nine to ditka_b

Member

to ditka_b
said by ditka_b:

They'll be saved or bought. A very large portion of Cell co. equiptment is Nortel and utilities won't be allowed to fail in a poor economy. Does anyone smell another 4 billion from Santa err.. I mean the US GOV bail out?
Yeah a alot of telco equipment is nortel, even regular POTS equipment.

Madness
Like a flea circus at a dog show
join:2000-01-05
Lynn, MA

Madness to TSI Gabe

Member

to TSI Gabe
Nortel? Isn't that the former Northern Electric/Telecom? The company that makes the DMS-10/100/200 switches & former maker of quality WECo-type phones? Be sad to see them go down.

kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL

kapil

Member

What fool didn't see this coming?

Carriers aren't spending money on legacy infrastructure.

The new stuff is made by many other competitors who make better products and sell it cheaper.

...and the small to large business PBX marketplace has tons of competition.

Nortel et al, are too rigid, too slow and haven't had a new idea in decades.

RIP.
Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX

Austinloop

Member

Re: What fool didn't see this coming?

Gotta agree with kapil on this one. I worked in the telecommunications business, prior to retirement, and hated dealing with Nortel, I thought that most of their stuff was pretty much junk and hard to work on.
SipSizzurp
Fo' Shizzle
Premium Member
join:2005-12-28
Houston, TX

SipSizzurp to kapil

Premium Member

to kapil
said by kapil:

Nortel et al, are too rigid, too slow and haven't had a new idea in decades.

RIP.
RIP ? You are too nice. Fuck Nortel, and good riddance. Ever since my nightmare experience with a defective Meridian I in 1999, the poor to shitty to non-existent tech support, no delivery on the warranty and the following lawsuit, it has been Fuck Nortel for me. Very poorly managed company. Head-up-their-bloated-corporate-ASS is not strong enough to describe them. Back then I predicted their failure and it's a shame it took 9 more years !

I just bought a shiney new cheap assed Mitel phone system for 1/4 the cost and am very happy with it !!

Guy Incognito
@teksavvy.com

Guy Incognito

Anon

Handpicking winners

I'd rather see Nortel get free handjobs from the government then the automakers.

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

fifty nine

Member

Re: Handpicking winners

said by Guy Incognito :

I'd rather see Nortel get free handjobs from the government then the automakers.
probably has to be the canadian gov't since they're a canadian company.

phoneboy3
@shawcable.net

phoneboy3

Anon

Saw this coming for awhile

I am one of the investors who go burned. At one point I was up by about 500%. Seems like it wasn't all that long ago. Sure wish I sold back then. Instead I rode it all the way over the cliff!

Oh well! Sheit happens.

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102

Member

Re: Saw this coming for awhile

I know of someone that had a ton of stock (401k) back prior to y2k in Nortel (employee) - and watched it drop from $500k to something like $5k ... now it probably totals $50
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt

Member

Time for a change.

Historically before the company was renamed Nortel the company was called Northern Telecom and before that the company was called Northern Electric, the manufacturing unit for Bell Canada. I have an idea. The new AT&T could buy Nortel for pennies on the dollar. Then rename it Western Electric!

It is amazing how many businesses sport Cisco VOIP PABX Systems and how few sport Nortel VOIP Systems. How unfortunate for Nortel.
bigdmrk1110
join:2006-04-24
Richardson, TX

bigdmrk1110

Member

Re: Time for a change.

A local article here says they'll be some layoffs coming in their Richardson, TX offices. I feel sorry for those people.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Time for a change.

Sorry to hear that. I know of one semi-local-to-you company that uses Nortel...a new one too...Pocket Communications. 1xRTT CDMA. Network seems to be pretty good, too...wonder what'll happen now.

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna

El Quintron

Premium Member

Good Riddance

Let it sink.

As a Canadian I can assure you that they've received enough gov't support either through monopolistic policies, tax breaks, or handouts.

They've directly contributed to Canada remaining in the 20th century IT-wise by their refusal to invest in the future.

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102

Member

Re: Good Riddance

Ottawa (Kanata specifically) will be hurting
Corel a long time ago, now Nortel (its been sinking for the past few years)

quetwo
That VoIP Guy
Premium Member
join:2004-09-04
East Lansing, MI

quetwo

Premium Member

No innovation

Nortel has been resting on its laurals for way too long. They were one of the last big PBX vendors to go into VoIP (and it was a VERY rocky road for them too). They outsouced most of their R&D, and got very little return for it. Event their products today are monolithic, and require upgrades every other versions. Heck, things like H.323 (a standard they helped create) trunks are difficult for them to do without lots of extra servers and adjunts. SIP is something that is just plain finikey on their equipment.

Had they woken up to the VoIP thing back in 2001 when Cisco, 3COM and Avaya (Lucent) were trying it out, they would be in much better shape. They decided that it would be best ot let the other guys do the R&D and wait it out. They didn't start making real investment into it until 2006.

S_engineer
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

S_engineer

Premium Member

To bad..

Click for full size
Another business titan reduced to ruins...I can't see Alcatel-Lucent being far behind.

This is a weird screenshot of how this looks in IE8 running on Win 7 64 bit.
simon726
join:2006-12-21
Ajax, ON

simon726

Member

pink sheets...

now the company is going to be traded on the pink sheets.....btw, I don't know how pink sheets work....

BodyBumper
join:2004-06-21
Beverly Hills, CA

BodyBumper

Member

RIP Nortel :(

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· wOFHdO2U

Anon users
@anonymouse.org

Anon users

Anon

The Last Crown Jewel remains....

...RIM... Let's pray, o canada...