Siemens is talking to Motorola about a possible sale of its Siemens Communications telecoms equipment arm, according to an article in German business newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine over the Easter weekend. 

The Communications unit is one of Siemens' six divisions, and accounts for about €13bn of the firm's €75bn total annual sales. The group, which makes equipment for landline and mobile providers, is a notorious loss maker.

Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper claimed that the company is in negotiations with Motorola.

The world's second largest maker of mobile phones would be primarily interested in the mobile part of the business which is profitable and growing.

But the report stated that Siemens does not want to be left with its wired 'ugly duckling' which is complicating the negotiations.

A sale of Siemens Communications would end the German industrial conglomerate's long involvement in the telecoms business.

Siemens sold its mobile phone-making business to BenQ last year, paying the Taiwanese company €250m to rid itself of the business and contractual liabilities.

Siemens was founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens after he invented a telegraph machine that transmitted letters instead of Morse code.