MONTREAL (AFP) - Canada's Nortel announced Tuesday that Canadian and US courts have given Ericsson permission to buy a chunk of its North American business for a purchase price of 1.13 billion US dollars.

Nortel "and certain of its other subsidiaries including Nortel Networks Inc., obtained orders from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approving the sale agreement with Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson ("Ericsson") for substantially all of Nortel's" CDMA business and LTE Access assets, a company statement said.

CDMA is a mobile phone standard widely used in North America, where the global GSM standard is less commonplace. LTE is a next-generation standard for bigger and faster mobile phone networks.

Ericsson has said it would take over the carrier networks division of Nortel relating to CDMA and LTE technology in North America -- a deal that includes contracts with the likes of Verizon and Bell Canada.

The acquisition -- at a firesale auction of Nortel assets in New York on Friday -- will make North America the biggest market for Ericsson, which last year reported sales there of 2.7 billion dollars (1.9 billion euros).

"Completion of the sale is subject to regulatory and other customary closing conditions, and the purchase price is subject to certain post-closing adjustments," Nortel added, stressing it would "work diligently with Ericsson to close the sale later this year."