Carrier business carries Alcatel through handset slump

NEWS The group blamed the fall in handset sales on "excess inventory in distribution channels at the beginning of the year as well as a general market slowdown" in a statement issued yesterday. However, handsets only account for seven per cent of Alcatel's business. The telecoms infrastructure business, including carrier and optical networking, had a better year 2000 than expected, and Alcatel still expects to meet previously announced revenue targets for this year.