Alcatel and Lucent admit talks

23 March 2006

Telephony giants confirm merger rumours

French based telephony vendor Alcatel and US firm Lucent have admitted the firms are in the early stages of merger discussions.

An Alcatel statement said: "We can confirm that Lucent and Alcatel are engaged in discussions about a potential merger of equals that is intended to be priced at market. There can be no assurances that any agreement will be reached or that a transaction will be consummated. We will have no further comment until an agreement is reached or the discussions are terminated."