LONDON — The Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia said on Tuesday that it was in advanced talks to buy Alcatel-Lucent, its French rival, in a deal that could further consolidate the global telecommunications industry.
A merger would increase pressure on other major telecom manufacturers, including Ericsson of Sweden, which holds the largest market share in the sector. In recent years, a number of Chinese rivals, including Huawei and ZTE, have also become major challengers for new contracts with global carriers, particularly those in Asia.
A potential transaction for parts of Alcatel-Lucent had been rumored for months, as that company sought to sell assets and focus on its more profitable divisions.
On Tuesday, Nokia said the companies, which have combined revenues of about $27 billion, were discussing a “potential full combination” that would most likely include Nokia offering its own shares in exchange for shares of Alcatel-Lucent.
Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent had held talks before, though they were paused after the Paris-based telecom manufacturer announced a major overhaul, including 10,000 job cuts, in late 2013.
Last year, Nokia completed the sale of its handset business to Microsoft for roughly $7.2 billion to focus on building equipment used to power cellphone networks by the world’s major carriers like AT&T and Vodafone.
“Nokia has the ambitions and they have the cash from the Microsoft sale,” said Sylvain Fabre, a telecom analyst at the technology research company Gartner. “A deal could help them compete against the bigger players like Ericsson and Huawei.”
Nokia did not say how much it could pay for its French rival. It has a market capitalization of 26.6 billion euros, or about $28 billion, more than double Alcatel-Lucent’s market value.
“There can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement or transaction,” Nokia said in a news release.
In late-morning trading, shares of Nokia fell 6.8 percent in Helsinki, while shares of Alcatel-Lucent jumped 14.7 percent in Paris.
Spokesmen for both Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent declined to comment beyond the brief statement.
One key to the eventual success or failure of the talks will be the French government’s attitude. Officials in Paris have long seen Alcatel-Lucent, and Alcatel before it, as the country’s telecom-sector champion deserving of nurturing and support.
By midafternoon on Tuesday, Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron had not issued an official statement on the matter. But a person in the Economy Ministry said the government could not offer a full opinion because it had not seen details of any deal.
While recognizing that Alcatel-Lucent’s business is evolving rapidly in a competitive market, the state would be “very attentive” to the effects such a deal might have on employment and on research and development, said the person in the Economy Ministry, who could not be identified according to protocol. The government would also evaluate the consequences of building a European champion on a global scale, a sort of Airbus of telecoms, the person said.
Mr. Macron’s predecessor, Arnaud Montebourg, was known for taking a critical view of deals that would lead to French companies passing under foreign control.
Mr. Montebourg intervened repeatedly in General Electric’s bid for Alstom, a French power and transportation group, and he effectively blocked Yahoo’s attempt to acquire the video website Dailymotion.
After Nokia sold its handset and services business to Microsoft, it shifted its focus to its telecom network equipment, mapping and new technology businesses. Nokia generates roughly 85 percent of its revenue from its telecom networking unit.
Tuesday’s announcement follows separate early-stage discussions by Nokia and a number of potential buyers, which have expressed interest in acquiring the Finnish company’s mapping unit, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The unit, called Here, competes with the likes of Google Maps to offer digital mapping services on people’s cellphones and in sectors like the automotive industry.
That unit has benefited from the push by carriers around the world to upgrade their high-speed mobile and data networks to take advantage of people’s seemingly insatiable desire to access online content through their cellphones.
Nokia, based in Espoo, near Helsinki, posted sales of €12.7 billion in 2014 and employs about 61,000 people.
Alcatel-Lucent, based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, provides a variety of telecommunications equipment, including for networks, broadband connections and cloud computing. It posted revenue of €13.2 billion, or about $14 billion, in 2014 and employs about 52,000 people.
The potential deal with Nokia follows a number of restructuring efforts after Alcatel-Lucent was created in 2006 through the merger of Alcatel of France and Lucent Technologies of the United States. The deal suffered from a number setbacks, and the combined entity has been forced to sell assets and offload thousands of employees to remain competitive.
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