Nortel Posts Larger 1Q Loss, Sales Fall

Despite a $2 billion-plus cash balance, Nortel said in January that it would file for court protection because it would not be able to get outside financing — known as debtor-in-possession funding — to pay for its restructuring.

Nortel has said it is exploring the potential for selling some of its businesses. On Monday, it said it was reporting the results for the first time in four segments that could operate as independent businesses.

Zafirovski said the industry needs to consolidate but it will take one to two more months for Nortel's board and management to determine whether to try to go it alone as originally planned or join with another player.

"We do know that time is not our friend," he said. "At the same time, if you act in haste, you do not drive normally good transactions for your stakeholders, including employment, including preserving technologies. And that's what we're trying to balance."

One of the few bright spots in Nortel's quarter was an increase in its cash balance, which increased 3 percent to $2.48 billion from $2.40 billion at the end of 2008.

Nortel said it would decentralize its carrier sales and global operations functions over the coming weeks, but didn't elaborate on what impact that would have on staffing.