Nortel Networks Corp. [NT] has waited so long for business conditions to improve so that it can go on the offensive and make some acquisitions that it has waited its way into another downturn.

At the telecom gear company's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski offered some mixed messages about the company's plans. After long insisting that the company had put its prolonged accounting scandal behind it and was ready to look at acquisitions, Zafirovski said on Wednesday that he didn't want to do anything "silly" in the current market where tight credit conditions made financing challenging. And, after sitting out the last round of consolidation in the telecom equipment sector, which left many of its rivals stronger and sent many of Nortel's would-be targets into the hands of other buyers, Nortel is once again talking about the need for further consolidation, saying the industry needs to consolidate because there are too many players.

The problem for Nortel is that, although it insists it's getting stronger all the time, it has gone so long without buying another business or drumming up any interest from potential partners that it's getting harder to envision the company doing anything but drifitng further into oblivion. -- Andrea Orr

See Feb. 14 post from Tech Confidential
See post from CanadianPress
See June 2007 story from TheDeal.com