Overlapping product lines make cost saving synergies not apparent and convergence of platforms may prove impossible

"The recent proposal of a joint venture between Motorola s wireless infrastructure business and Nortel Network s wireless infrastructure business would, in our opinion, be the equivalent of 1+1 = -2 and not 3," says EJL Wireless Research founder and President, Earl Lum.

"Our BTS contract analysis for 2007 indicates lagging market share for both companies in the 2G market and virtually no market share in 3G. The combined company would be the third largest for global and GSM BTS transceivers and number one in CDMA transceivers based upon 2006 market share figures. While both companies have bet everything on WiMAX technology, we are cautious as to the real market opportunity for WiMAX compared with LTE," says Lum.