Nortel Networks Corp.'s (NRTLQ) bonds are trading higher Friday as a consortium including Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) paid $4.5 billion to buy some patents belonging to Nortel.

Nortel's 10.125% bonds due July 15, 2013, are quoted 9.25 cents higher at 105 cents on the dollar on 73 trades, according to MarketAxess, an online trading platform.

Its 10.75% bonds due July 15, 2016, are quoted 9 cents higher at 105.5 cents on the dollar on 162 trades and the 5.344% notes due July 15, 2011, are quoted 6 cents higher at 98.75 cents on the dollar on 51 trades.

Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009, has been selling off assets in bankruptcy court since then. Google Inc. (GOOG) had originally made what is known as a stalking-horse bid on the patents of $900 million in April and the auction was delayed by a week after Nortel said it had seen a "significant level of interest" in the portfolio.

Nortel's portfolio includes around 6,000 patents and patent applications in telecommunications, Internet search and social networking, and covers mobile, long-term evolution and data networking as well as optical, Internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patent portfolios, the company said in a statement.

--By Anusha Shrivastava, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2227; anusha.shrivastava@dowjones.com

--Sven Grunberg and Dominic Chopping contributed to this report.