ALCATEL-LUCENT, the result of a recent merger between the two telecom giants, said it would open its Asia Pacific headquarters in Shanghai.

Gerald Dega, Alcatel Shanghai Bell's (ASB) president, is in charge of the new company's business in China. "We choose Shanghai because of the investment-friendly environment in Pudong and we will expand business in China through the platform ASB," Rose said.

In 2000, Alcatel was the first multinational company to set up an Asia Pacific headquarters in Shanghai. Before the merger, Lucent's Asia Pacific headquarters was in Singapore.

The two companies completed their merger in December. Their combined revenue was 18.6 billion euros (US$23.9 billion) in 2005, the latest figures available.

In the global telecom industry, several huge-scale mergers have happened, such as Alcatel and Lucent, Nokia and Siemens' networks division and BenQ and Siemens' mobile phone units.

China, with 455 million mobile phone users, is expected to launch 3G licenses this year and telecom equipment makers, including Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens and Huawei, all hope to grab more market share in the multi-billion-dollar market.

Source:未知