Via the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Verizon is positioning itself to object to the sale of Nortel Enterprise Solutions to Avaya. The reason, according to court papers, is that, Verizon claims, Avaya has notified Verizon that it will not assume the contracts for maintenance and support that Verizon currently has with Nortel for CPE provided to Verizon customers, including the federal government.Verizon's filing includes this statement:
Without this ongoing maintenance, service and support by the Debtors [Nortel], the continued communications capabilities of the government and business customers that are served by Verizon through the re-sale of the Debtor's CPE products and services--specifically including the federal departments, agencies and installations with critical national law enforcement, anti-terrorism and national defense responsibilities--are at significant risk of disruption, which in turn poses a significant hazard to the public's welfare, security and safety.
In the court papers, Verizon also states that its talks with Avaya on this issue are ongoing and may yet be resolved satisfactorily, in which case it would not need to press the objection to the sale. Also, Verizon notes that there is another bidder in tomorrow's Nortel Enterprise auction, and that if Avaya loses out in the auction, this may also enable Verizon to withdraw its objection.
But, Verizon says in the filing, if neither of these two outcomes occur, it will be prepared to contest a sale of Nortel Enterprise to Avaya, "on what amount to grounds of public safety, security and necessity."
