The bulk of shareholders seemed not to be swayed by objections from Paris-based investment advisory outfit Proxinvest, which recently called for shareholders to block the deal because the price was too high and it would erode corporate governance.

Alcatel chief executive Serge Tchuruk reportedly said at the Alcatel shareholder meeting: Consolidation is not a luxury, not an option, it has almost become a necessity.

There has been increasing consolidation in the broader telecoms equipment industry, with Nokia and Siemens announcing in a new joint venture in June, following LM Ericsson’s purchase of Marconi eight months earlier.

Alcatel also recently inked a preliminary agreement to buy Nortel’s 3G UMTS mobile network for $320m.

The next hurdle for Alcatel-Lucent is proving to the US Committee of Foreign Investment that the deal does not present a threat to national security. To overcome this, Lucent plans to set up a subsidiary run by US citizens, which will deal with R&D work for the US government. For similar reasons, Alcatel plans to sell its satellite business to Thales, a French aerospace electronics outfit.

The all-share deal would create a powerhouse supplier of hardware and software for telecoms, mobile and other IP networks, with about $25bn in combined annual revenue. This is slightly less than the fiscal 2006 revenue of Cisco Systems Inc, the No. 1 networking equipment maker, of $28.5bn.

If successfully merged, Alcatel-Lucent would be 60% owned by Alcatel shareholders, while Lucent shareholders would control the rest. Lucent chief executive Patricia Russo is expected to head the company from its headquarters in Paris, while Alcatel’s Tchuruk would become chairman.

About 9,000 jobs, or roughly one tenth of the combined workforce, would be cut from the new company in order to contribute about 55% of $1.7bn in planned savings by the end of the merger’s third year.

The cost synergies will be accretive from the first year and will be very important, Tchuruk reportedly said at the meeting.

Alcatel also reiterated, in a statement, its previous target to seal the deal by year’s end.

The US Federal Trade Commission gave the deal a green light in June, while the European Commission approved it in July.

Lucent has also separately announced that the SEC may recommend action relating to an investigation into Lucent’s Chinese operations per the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This is not expected to affect the Alcatel deal.