Nortel Lowers CTIA Profile

The humongous CTIA Wireless trade show is just around the corner and it looks like Nortel Networks Corp. (NT) will have a much smaller presence than originally planned.

The telecom equipment maker had booked 175 rooms at Caesar’s Palace – some costing $2,300 per night – but now says it will send no more than 70 employees and they’ll have to reserve their own rooms at around $219 per night.

But now bankrupt Nortel has to get court permission to rescind its Caesar’s Palace reservations without incurring $148,000 in cancellation fees. Interestingly, Nortel booked the 175 rooms one month after reporting disastrous earnings results and just as it was trying to avoid bankruptcy. We’re guessing that spending a ton of money in Las Vegas wasn’t the wisest method for preserving precious cash flow.