Gotta say, I don’t recall having a week like this in a long, long time. The fun started on Monday, with Wall Street’s collapse. That bled over into Tuesday. (Read more.) I barely saw sunshine those two days, and the weather was mockingly great here in Phoenix.

Then came Wednesday’s news. (And was it just me or did everyone hear the heads snap to simultaneous attention when Zafirovski dropped the bomb?) Nortel announced it wants to sell the Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) unit. There went plans for accomplishing anything else that day. But more importantly, why, why, why would Nortel even consider shedding its profitable, its very well-respected Ethernet and optical branch?

Nortel has a $1.5 billion market cap, Rick Malone of Vertical Systems Group told me. Combine that with solid performance within the MEN division (plus the fact that it contributed $300 million of Nortel’s $378 million 2Q revenue) and you’ve got a bunch of confused onlookers and analysts.

A sampling for you:

“I don’t know what they see that I don’t. To me it’s a mystery why they chose to unload this division.”
– Michael Howard, Infonetics Research principal analyst and co-founder

“Maybe now’s the time [Zafirovski] thinks he can sell the division for the most money. ... They always have more information on the inside than they're letting on." –Jeff Ogle, Current Analysis senior analyst

“I don’t have an answer as to why. It’s something they believe they can sell for a reasonable amount ... and that’s really why.” – Jimmy Yu, Dell’Oro Group optical analyst

“There’s got to be some rationale that wasn’t detected in the public pronouncements. ... It looks odd to me.” – Rick Malone, Vertical Systems Group principal and co-founder

So there you have it. Only the Nortel inner sanctum knows what’s going on in Ottawa.

All I can say is, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only telecom junkie desperate for Friday. This has been one crazy week and I am tired.