BlackBerry Ltd had been in discussions with Cisco Systems, Google Inc and SAP about a potential sale of the company, said sources that were familiar with the matter. BlackBerry Ltd had been on the block after year after year of struggling business.

A deal from Cisco Systems, Google Inc and SAP would be an alternative to the preliminary agreement that was reached weeks ago with Fairfax Financial Holdings. The fund had proposed to take BlackBerry private in a deal valued USD4.7 billion, said a Reuters report. Fairfax Financial is also the struggling smartphone maker's biggest shareholder. However, the offered deal had faced some skepticism due to financial questions, according to a Reuters report.

The Canadian smartphone maker had asked for preliminary expressions of interest from potential strategic buyers by early next week. This included Intel Corp, LG and Samsung.

Meanwhile, there was no clear information regarding a potential bid from the parties mentioned. However, potential technology buyers were interested in buying BlackBerry's secure server network and patent portfolio, said a report from Reuters.