Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent are reportedly once again considering a tie-up.
According to a German publication Manager Magazin report spotted by Reuters, the companies have been talking since this fall about a potential merger or a “close cooperation.”
Both companies declined to comment for Reuters’ report and both saw their stock prices rise on the news, with Alcatel-Lucent’s jumping 8 percent.
The renewed rumors of a merger come about one year after Reuters last reported that Nokia was holding internal discussions about whether to pursue a tie-up with Alcatel-Lucent.
A few months later a Wall Street Journal report said Nokia had no plans to go after Alcatel-Lucent. The Finnish company was at the time in the process of finalizing a deal to sell its handset division to Microsoft.
Earlier this year when rumors again surfaced regarding Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent joining forces, Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes told Reuters he was focused on strengthening his company’s competitive position and not on consolidation.
The possibility of renewed merger talks between Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent come as lower cost vendors like Huawei are increasing competition pressure among network infrastructure vendors.
