Toronto, July 23 - Dying telecom firm Nortel, which auctions its wireless business this week, has said Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) was shut out of the bidding process for failing to sign non-disclosure agreements.

Toronto-headquartered Nortel, which has been operating under bankruptcy protection since January after posting losses of $5 billion last year, is auctioning its various divisions to liquidate itself.

Its prized next-generation wireless business will be auctioned Friday in New York under court supervision, with Nokia-Siemens Networks and America's MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners as the two bidders.

The BlackBerry maker Tuesday accused Nortel managers of shutting it out of the bidding process.

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said they are ready to offer $1.1 billion to Nortel for the wireless unit, much higher than Nokia-Siemens's starting offer of $650 million and MatlinPatterson's $725 million.

Denying the RIM allegations, Nortel said Wednesday that the BlackBerry maker was shut out as it failed to meet court-determined requirements to participate in the auction.

In a statement, Nortel said the BlackBerry maker refused to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) needed to protect the intellectual property of its wireless unit as bidders assessed its assets.