Alcatel-Lucent

Wall Street securities firms aren't the only bearers of bad news these days. On Sept. 17 telecom equipment maker Nortel (NT) trimmed growth forecasts and said it's likely to announce cost-cutting measures such as staff reductions.

The digital-content landscape could look very different in the months ahead if a group of more than 20 companies has its way.

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a consortium that includes seemingly all the major players except Apple, officially announced Monday plans to define and build a new digital-media framework using industry standards. The goal is to allow consumers to acquire and play content across a wide range of services and devices.

On July 29, shareholders in telecommunications equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent finally got what many have been demanding for months: the resignations of Chief Executive Patricia Russo and Chairman Serge Tchuruk. Russo, the former boss of Lucent Technologies before its 2006 merger with Alcatel, said she'll step down before the end of the year, while former Alcatel chief Tchuruk will leave Oct. 1.

Six wireless industry giants have formed an Open Patent Alliance (OPA) to foster the development and deployment of WiMAX worldwide. Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Clearwire, Intel, Samsung Electronics, and Sprint Nextel are working on a competitive and open intellectual-property rights model that will help WiMAX ecosystem participants obtain one-stop access to patent licenses at a predictable cost.

The goal is to stimulate innovation through broader choice and lower equipment and service costs, said Barry West, president of Sprint's Xohm business unit.

Six wireless industry giants have formed an Open Patent Alliance (OPA) to foster the development and deployment of WiMAX worldwide. Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Clearwire, Intel, Samsung Electronics, and Sprint Nextel are working on a competitive and open intellectual-property rights model that will help WiMAX ecosystem participants obtain one-stop access to patent licenses at a predictable cost.

The goal is to stimulate innovation through broader choice and lower equipment and service costs, said Barry West, president of Sprint's Xohm business unit.

In an industry buffeted by slowdown, Alcatel-Lucent may be taking more than its share of lumps.

The world's largest maker of telecom gear on Apr. 30 reported a larger decline in sales than analysts were expecting and forecast a full-year drop in revenue. The Paris-based company blamed weakness in the U.S. dollar, which erodes the value of sales in the U.S. Excluding currency swings, sales would have risen 6.3 percent, Alcatel said.

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) has taken another step toward long-term stability. Seven major telecommunications companies announced Monday that they have reached an agreement on a mutual framework for licensing intellectual-property rights relating to 3GPP LTE, the next step after 3G in the evolution of mobile-phone technology.

The vendors are Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NEC, NextWave Wireless, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, and Sony Ericsson. The companies said their framework is based on the industry principle of "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms."