Stefan Mileschin

Ericsson is starting to look likely to buy the business support systems (BSS) unit of rival Nokia Siemens Networks.

According to the Dow Jones, Ericsson is fighting off competition from the US telecoms equipment maker Amdocs,

However, the son of Eric has been wooing Nokia Siemens with a better offer.

The BBS unit provides billing and charging systems for telecoms operators so it is not going to set the world alight with lots of patents.

Nokia Siemens has been saying little other than the fact that the unit was among assets NSN was considering selling.

Ericsson and NSN which is a joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens refused to put down its joint and declined to comment.

NSN is also dieting at the moment. It has cut 17,000 of the group's workforce and has replaced its breakfasts with protein shakes and is currently craving carbs.

Ericsson on the other hand has been expanding rapidly in the business support systems arena and last year swallowed Telcordia in the United States for $1.1 billion.

Consultants at Gartner thought that the son of Eric was the top in the OSS and BSS services if you factor in sales from Telcordia. NSN made a profit of €27 million on sales of €3.3 billion.

http://news.techeye.net/hardware/eri...s-business-arm