Hoping to create a new European telecom giant, Finland's Nokia said today that it is in discussions to buy France's Alcatel-Lucent.
The talks come just over a year after Nokia sold its mobile handset business to Microsoft. The remaining company focuses primarily on telecommunications and networking equipment, though it still also owns the Here mapping service.
A combination with Alcatel-Lucent would create a company worth an estimated $42 billion, and one that might be in a somewhat stronger position to compete against leaders in networking equipment such Cisco Systems.
Here's the statement from Nokia:
In relation to recent media speculation Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent confirm that they are in advanced discussions with respect to a potential full combination, which would take the form of a public exchange offer by Nokia for Alcatel-Lucent. There can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement or transaction.