Nokia Siemens Networks’ acquisition of Nortel’s carrier business vertical got a little prolonged as a US bankruptcy Court approved auctioning of the unit. The auction will now take place in July.

NSN will be considered as ‘stalking horse bidder’ and its offer of $ 650 million will be considered as base price for the auctioning.

The auction mode was proposed in an effort to realize the optimum value for the business unit. Interested companies can now submit bids by July 21 with the final auction will take place on July 24. NSN will have the option to match the offer of the highest bidder.

The move also coincides with objections raised by some of Nortel’s shareholders who allege that the conditions favour NSN and may not lead to a competitive bidding process.   

Nortel’s supplier Flextronics also objected to the deal. Flextronics objection assumes significance because it effectively makes about 70 % of Nortel’s telecom solutions.