Following court approval of its acquisition of Nortel’s – despite RIM's protestations – the Ericsson manufacturer has expressed quiet satisfaction with the LTE knowledge and experience it would be gaining.
The company has said that the $1.13 billion takeover of Nortel's wireless networking division would provide it with an increased presence in North America.
But it also confirmed plans to continue with Nortel's initial development of LTE and take on at least 2,500 Nortel employees, of which 400 were working on LTE development.
“The acquisition significantly expands Ericsson's footprint in this region, particularly as the US is emerging as an early adopter of LTE technology,” Ericsson said.
Speaking to investors, Hans Vestberg, Ericsson's CEO-in-waiting, said the Nortel deal would “add LTE muscles” to its existing development efforts in that area, describing it as a “step increase” in its LTE investment.
This comment provoked RIM's co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, to express his extreme disappointment that Nortel's world-leading technology seemed destined to leave Canada and that Canada's own Export Development Corporation was preparing to help by lending C$300 million to another bidder.
He suggested that the development of Nortel's LTE technology, funded in part by Canadian taxpayers, ought to remain under Canadian, rather then foreign, ownership.
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This article originally appeared in FierceWireless Europe