RIM’s Interest In Nortel’s Assets Mystifies Investors; Probably Should Scare Competitors

Research In Motion investors are trying to make sense of the BlackBerry-maker’s interest in buying Nortel Networks’ wireless-infrastructure business. As of right now, the leading theory suspects RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) of doing it for anti-competitive reasons: If RIM owns and controls certain patents, it may be able to deny that technology to rivals, such as the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), or at least make them pay handsomely for the right to use it.

On Monday, RIM said it was being blocked from participating in buying Nortel’s assets in bankruptcy proceedings, in which Nortel already agreed to sell its wireless business to Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Siemens Networks for $650 million. Today, analysts are buzzing as to what the handset maker would want with Nortel’s CDMA and LTE network business.

Here’s the leading theories as to what RIM wants with Nortel’s assets:

– To hurt competitors: Nortel has key patents that could ensure that BlackBerrys would continue to work when other wireless devices don’t, which will be increasingly important as wireless networks around the globe become constrained under the weight of major bandwidth usage, reports Canada’s Globe And Mail. The article in particular calls out previous tactics of RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie, which has led to RIM denying technology to rivals, or make them license it for a hefty fee.

– To gain smart employees: Analysts say RIM is interested in adding Nortel’s intellectual property, its Ottawa facility and Nortel’s 2,500 wireless-division employees, reports Dow Jones Newswires. Nortel’s business could also bring RIM attractive deferred tax assets, totaling about $6.2 billion.