By The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Nortel Networks Corp. has auctioned off another piece of the company with the sale of Global System Mobile to Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Kapsch CarrierCom AG in joint bid for US$103 million.

The sale to the European companies was announced early Wednesday and is subject to court approvals in the U.S. and Canada, which Nortel will seek at a joint hearing on Dec. 2. The delayed auction got underway Tuesday morning.

The global GSM/GSM-R business includes patents predominantly used in the GSM business and granting of non-exclusive licenses of other relevant patents.

If approved by the courts, Ericsson will purchase assets relating to the North American GSM business and Kapsch will purchase assets relating to the EMEA and Taiwan GSM businesses. Kapsch will also purchase the assets of the GSM-R business.

About 680 Nortel employees will receive offers of employment from the joint bidders.

Nortel had planned to sell the division last week, but decided to bump the date to make room for its optical networking and carrier Ethernet units auction. Ciena Corp. won that auction and will pay US$769 million for the division.

The former Canadian technology heavyweight, has been selling off its divisions after filing for creditor protection in January.