Nortel CEO Bill Owens announced on Sunday a joint (50/50) venture with LG Electronics in Seoul, South Korea to develop both hardware and networking solutions. Both companies signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the joint venture that will sell phone gear in Korea and other unnamed markets. The deal follows Nortel's recent announcement of a joint venture with China Putian Corp. to sell third-generation (3G) wireless equipment in China. The proposed 50-50 joint venture called LG-Nortel Networks will cover Nortel's complete portfolio of wireless, wireline, optical and enterprise solutions and LG's telecom gear business. - More