Confirming recent rumors [1], French telecom hardware and software giant Alcatel announced its intentions to buy Canadian hardware manufacturer Nortel's wireless broadband infrastructure portfolio for a reported $320 million. The purchase of Nortel's UMTS technology will further expand Alcatel's reach into the wireless broadband market. Richard Lowe, the president of Mobility and Converged Core Networks for Nortel, noted, "This deal will be a win-win for both companies and our customers." As you will recall, Alcatel is also currently in the process of buying Nortel rival Lucent Technologies, a deal which has recently come under some scrutiny [2] from industry analysts. A shareholder vote is currently scheduled for September 7th.
For more on the Alcatel/Nortel deal:
- read this piece [3] at The Street.com.
Links:
[1] http://fiercewireless.com/story/analysts-alcatel-close-to-buying-nortel-s-umts-biz/2006-08-02
[2] http://fiercewireless.com/story/alcatel-lucent-deal-under-new-scrutiny/2006-08-21
[3] http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/newsanalysis/technetworking/10306824.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA