Ericsson to buy Marconi telecom business: WSJ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Swedish telecom equipment giant Telefon AB LM Ericsson is planning to pay about US$2.1 billion to buy rival Marconi Corp's telecommunications business, the online edition of the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, with Britain's Marconi retaining its network-equipment servicing business, the paper said, quoting anonymous sources.

An Ericsson spokeswoman declined to comment, saying: "These are just rumours and they have been there for a couple of weeks now."

A Marconi spokesman in London declined to comment.

Britain's last remaining telecom equipment maker has said it is considering all strategic options after its future was thrown into turmoil in April when it lost a much-expected network upgrade contract from its largest customer, BT Group.

Marconi confirmed last August that it was in takeover talks and people familiar with negotiations told Reuters earlier this month that Ericsson was a bidder. The company has never named its suitors.

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