Alcatel and Lucent

Daily Wireless has a run down of the merger talks and this cool map.

From the post:

"Alcatel is in merger talks with smaller U.S. rival Lucent Technologies to create the world's biggest telecoms equipment company, with combined sales of 21 billion euros ($25.33 billion), reports Reuters, Light Reading and C/Net.

A combination with Lucent would allow Paris-based Alcatel to expand its presence in the U.S. market. A merger could create a company with the clout to withstand the market power of big telecoms operators, which are also joining forces.

U.S. telecom companies include:

• Phone Operators: Verizon Communications (140.3 million lines), AT&T(BellSouth) (70 million subs) and Qwest (14.7 million lines)

• Cable Operators: Comcast (21 million subs), Time Warner (11 million subs), Cox (6.7 million subs) and Charter (6.5 million subs)

• Satellite Operators: DirecTV (15 million subs) and EchoStar (12 million subs)

• Cellular Operators: Cingular (52.3 million), Verizon Wireless (49.3 million), Sprint-Nextel (45.6 million) and T-Mobile USA (20.3 million)"

From Om:

"The $34 billion merger of Lucent and Alcatel, if approved, will unleash a wave of mergers in the telecom equipment sector. Will Cisco merge with Motorola? What will happen to a host of smaller companies? This and more issues are covered in my story, Life after Lucent: telecom feeding frenzy, which is up on CNN Money website."