Nortel Networks Corp's pending sell-off means the troubled tech firm has been dropped as the main supplier of telecom infrastructure for the 2012 London Olympics.
Cisco Systems has stepped in an immediate replacement, British organizers announced Friday. The decision was made because the contract spanned across all of Nortel's business units, including the wireless divisions being pursued by Nokia Siemens Networks for US$650 million.
Nortel remains committed to its sponsorship of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler, spokeswoman Karen Monaghan told CTV Ottawa, calling the London split an "amicable" decision.
"The network (construction) is 85-per-cent complete and has already been used for numerous World Cup or equivalent events with outstanding results," she said.
If Nortel's decision responsible for the Olympics is part of the sale, the buyer must agree to complete the project, Monaghan added.
Latest bad news for once-mighty Ottawa firm
Nortel, once a thriving telecommunications company with 90,000 employees, filed for bankruptcy in both the United States and Canada earlier this year after a number of mishaps sent its stock plummeting, including accounting irregularities that eventually led to criminal charges against some former executives.
In recent months, the global economic crisis led to a dramatic drop in business that slashed the company's revenues. Nortel lost more than US$5 billion last year and the losses have continued into 2009.
The company's net loss for the quarter ending March 31 was US$507 million, or $1.02 per share. That is compared to a quarterly loss of $US138 million, or 28 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenues are also down 37 per cent, from $2.76 billion to $1.73 billion.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Paul Brent and files from The Canadian Press
