Alcatel to buy Nortel's 3G business
127232
(InfoWorld) - Alcatel has reached a preliminary agreement to buy Nortel Network's 3G (third-generation) mobile phone network business for $320 million. Under terms of the proposed deal, Alcatel will acquire Nortel's UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Business) radio access business, including 14 Nortel customer contracts, the companies announced Friday. UMTS is a 3G telecoms standard used in Europe based on W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access). The deal would make Alcatel one of the biggest suppliers of UMTS gear worldwide, giving it contracts with one in four UMTS operators, it said. The companies have signed a nonbinding agreement to merge and hope to close the deal by the end of the year. Closing the merger depends on arriving at a final acquisition agreement, negotiations with works councils, and securing regulatory and other approvals, they said. A "significant majority" of Nortel's employees in the UMTS division would be transferred to Alcatel, the companies said.. The deal appears not to affect Alcatel'sÂ proposed merger with Lucent, announced in April. That deal is due to be voted on by shareholders of both companies on Sept. 7, although some Lucent shareholders opposed the deal and are trying toÂ block the vote in court. Alcatel said it would involve Lucent in the integration of the UMTS business. The sale by Nortel continues aÂ restructuring plan at the companyÂ that has included 1,900 job cuts over the next year. The Canadian company said in a statement its UMTS access business "lacks the scale and momentum needed to become profitable." Nortel said it will continue to develop GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and other mobile technologies, as the company focuses on emerging 4G mobile video and multimedia services. Alcatel sees the acquisition as a way to build on an expanding UMTS market and increase it technology portfolio for major operators such as Orange and Vodafone.
73944
Alcatel CGEP.PA has expanded its  foothold in the key North American market with the acquisition  of a mobile software provider and a conference technology  business for $277 million.
438567
NEW YORK, September 17  - Alcatel (ALA.NYS) has expanded its operations and presence in the core North American telecommunication market with two separate acquisitions for about $277 million.
156724
Alcatel SA   completed  its acquisition of Lucent Technologies Inc.  on Thursday,  creating one of the world's biggest suppliers of network  equipment for mobile phones and high-speed Internet.
214096
(InfoWorld) - Alcatel-Lucent, a global communications giant with combined annual revenue of more than US$24 billion, will debut Friday after a sometimes rocky engagement between Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc. The deal closed Thursday,Â about eight months after it was announcedÂ and followingÂ national security concerns,Â investor lawsuitsÂ and one close shareholder vote. On Friday, the company is set to begin trading on the Euronext Paris exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ALU. Both companies were among the largest suppliers of wired and wireless infrastructure, and the combined entity boasts impressive statistics: 79,000 employees in 130 countries, about 23,000 of whom work in research and development, a services team of more than 18,000, and customer relationships with the 100 largest service providers in the world. The consolidation comes as carriers, the consumers of telecommunications gear, also combine into fewer and bigger entities. The new company will be incorporated in France and based in Paris but run by Chief Executive Officer Patricia Russo, the American outgoing chief of Lucent. Alcatel head Serge Tchuruk is a non-executive chairman of the board. Both were appointed Thursday. Bell Labs, Lucent's venerable research unit, will remain in New Jersey and a special business will be set up to handle sensitive U.S. government contracts. Alcatel will sell its satellite business to ease national security concerns in France. The deal came under fire from some investment firms and shareholders. In September, Lucent settled two proposed class-action lawsuits by investors that threatened to delay its shareholder vote, and the deal then passed with less than 52 percent of the vote. The last key hurdle was approval by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment In the U.S. (CFIUS), which earlier this month signed off on the deal on the condition that the companies execute national security agreements with certain U.S. government agencies. Alcatel-Lucent expects to gain significant savings within three years from cutting about 9,000 jobs, consolidating support functions, optimizing its supply and procurement system and leveraging its research and services operations across a larger base. The company will discuss the news on a webcast on Friday at 1 p.m. Central European Time (12 p.m. GMT).
89088
Cingular, the largest US mobile phone operator, is to launch a high-speed third generation (3G) network.
326821
Verizon Wireless is buying wireless spectrum licenses covering 23 U.S. markets from bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. for &#36;3 billion, bolstering the cell phone company's ability to compete with the big new rival created by the merger of Cingular Wireless and AT&amp;T Wireless.
59
French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel is nearing a deal with a Chinese peer on cooperating to build third-generation (3G) mobile phone networks using a Chinese technology standard, a senior executive said.
541152
Regional US telecommunications group Alltel announced it had agreed to buy Western Wireless Corp. for about six billion dollars in cash and stock.
231271
Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with NextWave Telecom Inc. to purchase all of its airwave licenses for $3 billion.
489063
BROOMFIELD, Colo. (Dow Jones/AP) -- Level 3 Communications Inc. said Friday it agreed to buy the wholesale dial-up Internet access business of Sprint Corp.
37707
French telecommunications equipment vendor Alcatel on Friday snapped up two US technology firms in acquisitions that will add wireless switching and IP conferencing technology to its portfolio.
395090
Alcatel  has expanded its foothold in the key North American market with the acquisition of a mobile software provider and a conference technology business for &#36;277 million.
580158
NEW YORK  - Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with NextWave Telecom Inc. to purchase all of its airwave licenses for $3 billion.
95152
Alcatel has expanded its foothold in the  key North American market with the acquisition of a mobile  software provider and a conference technology business for $277  million.
70116
Sprint Corp. agreed to buy Nextel Communications Inc. for about $35 billion in a transaction that would leave three companies in control of 70 percent of the US mobile-telephone market.
459989
Verizon Wireless is buying wireless spectrum licenses covering 23 US markets from bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. for $3 billion, bolstering the cell phone company&#39;s ability to compete with the big new rival