LTE will allow carriers to offer cell phones with advanced features such as online gaming and video streaming.

But analysts here suspected that the BlackBerry maker was interested only in having a peek at the crucial technology.

Nortel, which once employed 90,000 people worldwide, has been operating under bankruptcy protection since January after posting losses of $5 billion last year.

A further loss of $507 million in the first quarter of this year sank it deeper.

The telecom giant's accumulated problems - from the bubble burst to internal accounting scandal to the current meltdown - forced it to seek bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada this January - just ahead of its $107 million interest payment.