Speaking at KMI's 6th Annual Conference on Fiberoptic Markets in Europe, Dr Christian Reinaudo, president of Alcatel Optics Group, last month forecast continued consolidation in the global fibre-optics industry.
He predicted that only "one or two big players per region" in the US, Europe and Asia would survive the current downturn in the telecommunications industry.
Reinaudo said pro-active consolidation was necessary if the industry hopes to return to profitability anytime soon. Alcatel would clearly be one of the companies to consolidate by acquiring companies, and not be a "consolidatee". However, he declined to comment on any acquisitions the company might be currently considering. "Anything I say here today will just drive up prices," he said.
Reinaudo also said outsourcing was always an option for Alcatel, as it cuts costs and passes on savings to its customers, but he added that the company had no plans to abandon its strategy of vertical integration.
In 2001, about 25% of Alcatel's Euro25.3bn in revenues were derived from optics.
- Telenor's IP-based service provider subsidiary Nextra has become the first Central European company to provide international telecom services on a packet-based network, says Alcatel, which has completed deployment of a Next Generation Network.
The NGN connects Prague, Czech Republic; Frankfurt, Germany; and Bratislava in Slovakia. It will also be extended to other European countries in which Nextra is established (it has Internet companies in Norway, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Russia, and the UK).