Nortel Networks, the Canadian equipment maker that filed for bankruptcy protection in January, yesterday reported a widened fourth-quarter loss of US$2.14 billion but reiterated plans to become a viable business. The loss was more than double that of the year ago period (US$844 million) but an improvement on the previous quarter (US$3.41 billion). The fourth-quarter loss mainly reflected writedowns and a 15 percent decline in revenues that fell to US$2.72 billion from US$3.2 billion as customers cut back their spending. For the full year, Nortel lost US$5.8 billion on revenues of US$10.42 billion, compared with a US$957 million loss in 2007.

The company announced the appointment of Pavi Binning as Chief Restructuring Officer, a position he will hold in addition to his existing role as CFO. “Work is taking place across Nortel to develop a comprehensive plan to restructure Nortel into a more focused, leaner and more competitive company,” commented president and CEO Mike Zafirovski in a statement. Last week the vendor announced a further 3,200 job losses. The new reductions, which will be carried out over the next several months, are in addition to the 1,800 reductions previously announced. The company said yesterday it had a cash balance of about US$2.4 billion when it sought court protection from its creditors earlier this year. It did not schedule a conference call with investors and analysts for its latest quarterly results announcement and declined to give guidance, citing limited visibility, the continuing uncertainty of the economy and its work to restructure the company. Meanwhile, Light Reading notes that, in a somewhat surprising move, Nortel is planning to pay bonus payments to some of its senior executives and staff in North America.