SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent, already plagued by lower-than-expected sales, sought Friday to reassure investors that its supply agreement with AT&T Inc., the world’s largest telecommunications company, remains solid.
Shares of Alcatel-Lucent closed down 16 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $10.07 on Friday after the Financial Times reported that the equipment maker would not be supplying as much equipment for AT&T’s mobile phone network upgrade as initially expected. The story cited unnamed sources.
Michael Coe, a spokesman for San Antonio-based AT&T, declined to comment on the report Friday.
But Alcatel-Lucent put out a statement saying its market share has remained relatively stable, and it will continue to work to meet its supply commitments.
Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent, Swedish group Ericsson and Germany-based Siemens AG were awarded a $2 billion contract by AT&T in 2004 to supply infrastructure for AT&T’s new faster mobile network.
Alcatel-Lucent, formed from the November merger of Alcatel SA and New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies Inc., lowered revenue growth projections for the year in September, and its chief executive is under heavy pressure to accelerate the post-merger restructuring of the company.
