Canadian export credit agency, EDC, is to provide US$300mn towards a US$400mn credit facility for Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for the purchase of wireless assets from Nortel Networks, ensuring R&D jobs remain in Canada.

“Nokia Siemens has been expanding its presence in Canada for many years and this transaction will further its North American expansion,” says Paul Day, vice-president, information and communication technology at EDC. “EDC’s participation in this transaction will help ensure that we keep Canadian know-how and capability in Canada.”

Nortel is currently operating under bankruptcy protection. NSN’s bid, which is for the assets in Nortel’s wireless division, sets the price base and starts a court-monitored auction process where anyone can bid for specified assets.

Specifically, NSN is bidding for Nortel’s Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology, as well as intellectual property rights and customer contracts. CDMA is considered a driving force behind wireless networks. LTE is the next-generation network that enables fixed to mobile migrations of internet applications and provides capacity to support these mobile applications.

“EDC has been working closely with NSN and Nortel on this transaction from the beginning,” says Day. “One of the guiding principles we had established was the need for a national interest aspect to our involvement, to which NSN had to agree.”

To that end, EDC’s participation in the deal intends to ensure that as many skilled, professional and R&D jobs as practical remain in Canada.

“We are delighted to have EDC support for this transaction,” says Luca Maestri, CFO of Nokia Siemens Networks. “NSN is committed to Canada as an important centre of excellence for next-generation wireless technology.”