RESEARCH IN Motion (RIM), the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry family of smartphones, emerged as a possible rival bidder for the wireless operations of Nortel Networks but claimed that Nortel, which is operating under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, had in effect blocked its bid worth about $1.1 billion (€775 million).

Nortel, which filed for protection from its creditors in mid-January, has agreed to a “stalking horse” bid of $650 million for the bulk of its core wireless business from Nokia Siemens Networks, the European telecommunications equipment joint venture.

RIM’s interest in the operations emerged just ahead of yesterday’s deadline for bidders for the wireless assets to “qualify” for the final auction on Friday under rules set by Nortel and approved by the courts.

Nortel agreed earlier this week to sell its enterprise corporate network business to Avaya for $450 million, as part of what Nortel chief executive Mike Zafirovski describes as “an orderly break-up”. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)