Lucent's would-be partner, Alcatel, extends outsourcing, investments to Taiwan

Two stories from DigiTimes today featuring Alcatel, the French telecom firm currently in talks to acquire Lucent Technologies : First, Alcatel may increase its investments in Taiwan by setting up related R&D and testing centers should Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), one of Alcatel’s major clients in Taiwan, undertake a large-scale upgrading or expansion of its networking infrastructure, said Christian Reinaudo, president of Alcatel Asia Pacific, recently in Sydney. A March 28 report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times indicated that Alcatel is likely to set up an IP TV testing center in Taiwan at the request of CHT, the largest provider of MOD (multimedia on demand) in Taiwan. Read more here.

Next, the company is planning to expand its outsourcing to Taiwan as well. Alcatel is expected to increase its purchase of ADSL modems and to start outsourcing production of IP edge routers, L2 and L3 switches to Taiwan makers, according to sources at Alcatel. Alcatel purchased over 34 million ADSL CPE (customer premises equipment) devices, mainly modems, from Taiwan makers in 2005, including 12 million units from Askey Computer, 10 million from Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry), six million from Alpha Networks, three million from Zyxel Communications and three million from Tecom, according to data available from Alcatel. The full story here.

(DigiTimes)