SPOTLIGHT: Ericsson sees benefits to Alcatel-Lucent combo


Big vendor CEOs, of course, are downplaying any impact the merger between Alcatel and Lucent will have on their businesses. In fact, they say it gives them an advantage. Ericsson head Carl-Henric Svanberg said he expects the merger to give his company an opportunity to grab more of the U.S. market, a market it has lagged in because of some strong CDMA vendors. Svanberg said if the combined Lucent and Alcatel becomes too strong, particularly in the U.S., he believes some U.S. operators will start looking for alternative suppliers if the merged company becomes too dominant. This dominance problem in general in the U.S. CDMA market is part of the reason why Chinese vendors ZTE and Huawei are coming to America. Article