Nortel News: Q1 Estimates, Sasken Stake Sale, New VP Global Ops

Nortel's Q1 Estimates

My friend, Frank Burch, was kind enough to pass along a compilation of analyst estimates for Nortel’s (NT) first-quarter results:

Nortel to Sell Sasken Stake

According to India’s The Financial Express, Nortel may be planning on selling its 11.31% stake in Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd., a Bangalore-based telecom R&D firm that Nortel invested $10-million in three years ago.

Sasken, which has worked with Nortel since 1991 on many of its GSM technologies, may back the stake back from Nortel.

Michael Pangia Becomes VP Global Ops

Michael Pangia must have been doing some good things for Nortel in Asia and/or they really need to fill the newly-created position as senior vice-president, global sales operations and strategy.

Here’s the official statement from Bill Nelson, EVP, global sales:

We are driving towards world-class sales operations and customer focus, and Michael Pangia, with his recent experience leading our operations in a highly competitive region, is the right executive to take us to the next level. Simplifying processes, increasing the effectiveness of customer interaction, improving seller productivity and driving overall operational effectiveness are the hallmarks of a winning company. We are putting the global strategy in place to build our business, and Michael’s global operational experience and deep Nortel knowledge will allow us to execute rapidly and deliver value to our customers and to the company.

Pangia is currently president of Nortel’s Asia Region. Nortel’s had sales of $1.76-billion in Asia last year, compared with $1.73-billion in 2006 and $1.42-billion in 2005.

For more on Nortel and Pangia’s appointment, check out TMCnet.