Technology giant Nortel Networks files for bankruptcy

Nortel has been dealing with a sharp drop in orders from phone company clients. Nortel filed for court protection in Delaware on Wednesday, a day before the firm is due to repay a $107 million interest debt on bonds, AP said.

Once Canada's largest company, Nortel has been struggling since the dot-com collapse and a shifting of the telecom landscape. It was facing a repayment of some $107 million in debts.

A series of petitions filed in court included one from the parent Canadian firm that listed assets and liabilities both exceeding $1 billion.

The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail had reported earlier that Nortel, a major global player in telecom infrastructure, was expected to simultaneously file for bankruptcy in Canadian courts, AFP said.

Nortel, which does business in 150 countries and has some 30,000 employees, traces its history back to 1882 as the mechanical department of Bell Telephone Canada. It was later known as Northern Electric and Northern Telecom before changing its name in 1999 to Nortel Networks Corporation.

Nortel was selected to be the official network supplier for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and partner for the London 2012 Olympic Games, providing network communications equipment.