PARIS-Alcatel Inc. appears to be strengthening its UMTS market share as the French vendor bought out Fujitsu’s 34-percent stake in the pair’s UMTS joint venture, while at the same time, reports began surfacing saying Alcatel is on the brink of buying Nortel Networks Ltd.’s UMTS business.
The Fujitsu buyout puts Alcatel in full control of its joint-venture with Fujitsu, Evolium, which the two companies formed in 2000.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
French securities firm, Oddo, noted that, “Based on our contacts at Nortel France, the acquisition process (between Alcatel and Nortel’s UMTS business) seems fairly well advanced.”
The moves make sense in light of comments made recently by Serge Tchuruk, president and chief executive of Alcatel, who said Alcatel intends to boost its UMTS presence in North American markets, where the company sits behind Nokia Corp., Siemens A.G. and L.M. Ericsson.
Alcatel’s pending acquisition of Lucent Technologies Inc. is set to close by the end of this year.
