Nortel Networks and Corning, the fibre-optic networking equipment makers, have terminated discussions that could have led to a $100 billion (€107 billion) takeover of Corning.

Nortel, the Canadian maker of communications equipment, had been in talks for several weeks over the proposed merger of its optical components division with annual sales of $2.5 billion with Corning. It was understood that terms of the transaction would have given Nortel a majority stake in Corning, the US manufacturer of optical fibre and components.