Canadian telecom equipment & technology solutions provider Nortel plans to exit Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd, a Bangalore-based telecom R&D outsourcing firm. Industry sources say Nortel, which holds about 11.31% stake in Sasken, bought in April 2005 at $10 million, has intimated Sasken about its plan.
Sasken?s board is meeting on Friday, April 18, to consider the buyback proposal.
While an e-mail query to Nortel about the plan remain unanswered, Sasken officials said the company is in the silence period, and not aware of any such development, so would not comment.
Nortel, a telecom equipment supplier with several applications, is on a revival mode after hitting a rough patch in the recent past. In fact, last month the company bagged a $100-million order from state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for its GSM expansion project.
Sasken, which is into telecom R&D outsourcing, has been a key supplier to Nortel since 1991 and has supported the company?s GSM digital wireless and enterprise communications solutions.
In April 2005, when Nortel invested in Sasken, the company had said that the two would work together to develop new software and deploy Nortel networking solutions.
?This investment strengthens Nortel?s strategic relationship with Sasken and aligns with Nortel?s objective to bring greater capabilities to customers in the critical emerging markets,? the firms had said.
