Ericsson Buys Marconi
Following rumors earlier this month, Ericsson has bought most of British telecom equipment vendor Marconi for about $2.1 billion. Ericsson has acquired everything except Marconi’s UK services business, which will be renamed Telent, and the deal is being widely applauded by analysts, both as a great deal for Marconi shareholders, but also as a good strategic fit for Ericsson. Marconi assets will bolster the position of Ericsson — the top wireless network gear vendor in the world — in fixed-mobile convergence, which should help both its mobile networks business as well as in next-generation fixed networks. It was the failure by Marconi to win any part of the contract for BT’s next-gen network that put the company into play originally.
