AlcaLu's Verwaayen: M&A is not a panacea

A raft of ongoing rumors that Alcatel-Lucent would either merge or be acquired by one of its rivals (Ericsson, Huawei or Nokia Siemens Networks) have been rampant in recent months, but company CEO Ben Verwaayen maintains that M&A is not a cure for the company's pains. A growing quorum of analysts and even competitors such as Nokia Siemens Networks think that further consolidation in the incumbent telecom vendor market could breed a benefit of decreasing pricing pressure and margins.

Speaking at this week's ETRE technology conference in Paris, Verwaayen said simply going out and striking a deal with another company won't provide a quick fix for its ongoing issues. "I've said many times before, M&A is not the way out of our problems. We need to fix our own stuff," he said in a Reuters story.

It appears that Alcatel-Lucent is making some progress. While the vendor has not been profitable since Alcatel and Lucent merged in 2006, the company did report that its shares gained 80 percent in 2009 versus 25 percent on the DJ Stoxx technology index .SX8P. Since coming aboard as company CEO last year, Verwaayen said his first goal is to bring it to "break even" status by the end of 2009.

For more:
- Reuters has this article

Related articles
Alcatel-Lucent, Chinese vendor marriage rumored
Huawei again shoots down AlcaLu union rumors
AlcaLu: No Chinese acquisition here