Alcatel-Lucent still hasn't finished the first full year of its combined existence, but it continues to be a tough one. The company has suffered through weak earnings, job cuts and other pains involved in integrating two massive equipment vendor operations.
Now, the vendor has adjusted its 2007 revenue outlook to forecast revenue that will be "flat or slightly up" from the $25.45 billion (€18.3 billion) the company would have generated in 2006 had operations been combined. That forecast is short of previous guidance of $26.7 billion (€19.2 billion). The strange thing about the lower forecast is that lower-than-expected spending by wireless carriers seems to be the culprit.
The merger of Alcatel and Lucent created a super-sized juggernaut that supposedly has an edge with larger carriers in need of large, reliable vendor mates. The company's first year has been about making adjustments; greater expectations will be in mind for the second year.
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