Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Nortel Networks Corp., the phone- equipment maker whose shares have lost 97 percent of their value this year, may be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because its stock price is less than $1.

The company has six months to bring the price back to more than $1, according to a Nortel statement today. The exchange’s listing standards bar stocks from trading below $1 for more than 30 days.

Nortel said it may consolidate its outstanding common shares to push up their value. That suggests the company is considering another reverse split, which reduces the number of shares and boosts the price of the remaining stock proportionately. Toronto- based Nortel has recorded $7 billion in losses in the past three years amid waning demand and competition from Cisco Systems Inc.

Nortel, the largest North American maker of telephone equipment, has enlisted Lazard Ltd. and law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton to help the company reorganize, which may include a bankruptcy filing, people familiar with the situation said yesterday.

Nortel shares were unchanged at 40 cents at 4 p.m. New York time. The shares haven’t topped $1 in more than a month.

In 2006, a reverse stock split converted every 10 Nortel shares into one new share.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vivek Shankar in San Francisco at vshankar3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 11, 2008 16:08 EST