Despite the ongoing investment in telecommunication networks, especially with the advent of 3G services, the optical component industry has been hit by a sudden slowdown. Last week Agere warned that it would not meet its sales and earnings expectations. The company stated that it was experiencing softening demand for our opto-electronic components and our integrated circuits from a number of our large customers.
The Agere IPO will be the biggest for some time, raising around $6.5 billion. Lucent will use $2.6 billion to pay off some of its debt; the remainder will be retained by Agere.
