LAS VEGAS—No big-time mergers for L.M. Ericsson, said the company’s chief executive, Carl-Henric Svanberg, during a press conference Thursday. As Svanberg laid out Ericsson’s technology strategy, he explained that the current trend toward vendor consolidations puts pressure on the smaller firms and gives large...
PARIS—Alcatel announced its Genesys subsidiary acquired privately held voice recognition company VoiceGenie in an undisclosed cash transaction. Founded in 2000, VoiceGenie develops self-service applications using Voice XML. The technology can be used by carriers for directory assistance, navigation direction and virtual receptionists. VoiceGenie is...
As Alcatel Corp.'s board of directors met last Thursday to review its "merger of equals" with long-time rival telecom equipment vendor Lucent Technologies Inc., analysts were pounding out reports and talking up a storm, delving into the merger's many angles. The Yankee Group said...
WASHINGTON-Experts said a merger between French telecom giant Alcatel SA and U.S.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. likely would undergo intense scrutiny over national security implications, possibly delaying but not necessarily dooming a blockbuster vendor deal that could become a major test case for congressional-driven reforms...
PARIS—Alcatel Inc.’s board of directors is meeting in Paris today to review its "merger of equals" with longtime rival telecom equipment vendor Lucent Technologies Inc. Though the French company said it’s not likely to reach a final decision about the merger during the meeting,...
TORONTO—Current and former directors, officers and employees of Nortel Networks Ltd. are forbidden by the Ontario Securities Commission to trade shares of the company’s stock, Nortel said in a statement. Nortel said the temporary cease trade order came as a result of its delay...
WASHINGTON-The telecom industry gathered last week in Las Vegas for a convention sponsored by the United States Telecommunications Association. Next week, many of the same people will visit Sin City again to attend CTIA's annual gathering. Against the backdrop of major telecom carriers consolidating...
Merger talks between Alcatel Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc. could put the entire infrastructure industry in play as consolidation among telecom carriers trickles down to their suppliers. Indeed, Merrill Lynch analysts said L.M. Ericsson, Siemens AG and Motorola Inc. are likely to acquire smaller...
PARIS—Alcatel Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc. confirmed they are in talks to create a "merger of equals," a transaction that would result in a single telecom equipment company with a total market capitalization of more than $33 billion. "We can confirm that Lucent and...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Lucent Technologies Inc. outbid L.M. Ericsson in the auction of Ethernet developer Riverstone Networks Inc.’s business. Riverstone said Lucent’s final bid was $207 million in cash along with certain modifications to the Asset Purchase Agreement originally signed by the two companies in...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—L.M. Ericsson and Lucent Technologies Inc. could find themselves in a bidding war today for Ethernet developer Riverstone Networks Inc. Ericsson submitted a competing offer for Riverstone just over a month after Lucent and Riverstone agreed to a $170 million purchase price...
What does $67 billion buy these days? Convergence nirvana, for one thing. If AT&T Inc.'s offer for BellSouth Corp. gets approved, as it's expected, big-time convergence could finally start happening in real-world terms. Bundled communications services from a range of wired and wireless network...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment on whether broadband services can be used in the 700 MHz public-safety band. Twenty-four megahertz of spectrum is becoming available with the transition to digital TV. When the 700 MHz band plan was developed in 1998, the...
Lucent Technologies Inc. is swimming in new contracts, announcing seven deals valued at more than $300 million at the CeBIT 2006 trade show. "Our customers' competitive landscape continues to undergo tremendous change as the boundaries between the telecom, media and Internet worlds continue to...
AT&T Inc.'s planned acquisition of BellSouth Corp. could be great for consumers, but the news isn't so great for telecom equipment vendors, already suffering from declining profits. "In our view, carrier consolidation is a net negative for equipment vendors," stated a recent report by...
HANOVER, Germany—Lucent Technologies Inc. is swimming in new contracts, announcing seven deals worth more than $300 million at the CeBIT 2006 trade show. "Our customers’ competitive landscape continues to undergo tremendous change as the boundaries between the telecom, media and Internet worlds continue to...
ATLANTA—AT&T Inc. announced Sunday that it will merge with Baby Bell BellSouth Corp. in a $67.1 billion, all-stock transaction that, if approved by regulators, would give Cingular Wireless L.L.C. a single parent company. The transaction also would replace the Cingular brand with the very...
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Motorola Inc. says it’s combining its Networks and Government & Enterprise Mobility Solutions business units into one entity for the sake of cost savings and efficiency. The company named Greg Brown, current president of Motorola’s Government & Enterprise Mobility Solutions, to lead the...
MURRAY HILL, N.J.—Lucent Technologies Inc. gave its corporate controller, John Kritzmacher, the nod to succeed Frank D’Amelio as chief financial officer. D’Amelio left Lucent’s CFO post up for grabs when he became Lucent’s chief operating officer in January.Kritzmacher has been a rising star as...
AUSTIN, Texas—Chipmaker Wintegra Inc. announced plans for an initial public offering in which it hopes to raise as much as $86 million. The company makes silicon for a variety of infrastructure products, including those for wireline and wireless networks. L.M. Ericsson, Fujitsu Ltd., Lucent...
With equipment orders not rolling in like they used to, or at least having slowed down slightly, equipment vendors are looking for new ways to bring in revenues. At the same time, carriers are looking to tap into new revenue streams without making huge...
BARCELONA, Spain-The evolution toward convergence could make for some strange bedfellows. The 3GSM World Congress was named for third-generation cellular services, but it was the alphabet soup of other technologies that garnered much of the attention at last week's show. Motorola Inc. and Nokia...
MURRAY HILL, N.J-Lucent Technologies Inc. said it won a contract to conduct a threat assessment of Europe's wireless, wireline and Internet networks. The contract, which was awarded by the 25-member state European Commission, calls on Lucent to perform a comprehensive analysis of the factors...
As all things GSM were talked about last week during the 3GSM World Congress trade show, the wireless industry was put on notice that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is getting down to business with its national UMTS network buildout plans. The carrier announced contract expansions...
