'Mobile infrastructure unit will become profitable,' states Al-Lu head

Despite his company having lost money for some years, the CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Ben Verwaayen, has vigourously argued its mobile infrastructure division should be retained, and promised it would become profitable.

Verwaayen pointed to the 50 customers worldwide that presently use its W-CDMA networking equipment, maintaining that the unit was a valuable asset to the company and its customers. He also claimed the mobile infrastructure R&D unit was vital to the future development of Alcatel-Lucent's LTE technology plans.

Seemingly unworried by the worldwide downturn in infrastructure Capex--the company has warned it could experience a sales decline in this sector of between 8 and 12 per cent--Verwaayen indicated his determination to succeed, stating: "I will give it my all to make sure that we achieve an operating margin in the mid to high single digits by 2011."

Market analysts, however, remain concerned about the company's relatively weak position in the 3G infrastructure market compared to its rivals.

For more on this story:
TeleGeography and Financial Times

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