The US equipment manufacturer Motorola and its German competitor Siemens are reportedly considering a swap deal which would see Motorola divest its wireless network business in return for Siemens’ mobile handset operations. It is thought that the two vendors have been in negotiations for more than a year. Neither company has commented on the latest reports.
According to Chicago Business, Siemens is asking Motorola for an unspecified cash payment as part of the deal, which involves businesses that generate over USD 4 billion in revenues annually. For its part, Motorola is hoping to retain its equipment supply deal with US cellular operator Nextel, in which Motorola owns a 13.5% stake. Nextel’s networks use the proprietary iDEN technology so would be relatively easy to separate from Motorola’s other wireless network operations.