Washington  - Nortel Networks chief executive Mike Zafirovski is to leave the company as the Canadian telecoms stalwart fights for survival, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The news came as a Canadian Parliamentary committee opened hearings into the sale of some of Nortel Networks Corps assets to Ericsson AB. Legislators have expressed concern the country might lose technology it helped develop.

Sweden's Ericsson bought Nortels wireless CDMA unit and other technology last month for 1.13 billion dollars, prompting the hearings. Another of Canada's strong telecoms cards, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd, claims that Nortel blocked it from bidding on the branch after it had spent more than 1 billion dollars to acquire Nortel's patents.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Zafirovski, 55, could leave the company within weeks. He joined Nortel in 2005 on his reputation for saving companies like Motorola Inc's cellphone division and a General Electric Co lighting unit.

Nortel, one of the world's largest telecommunications equipment makers, entered bankruptcy in January, and has since decided its creditors would make more money by selling its assets. (dpa)