Motorola Handset Split Could Give Further Opening to Rivals

The rest of the business - which consists of wireless network equipment, TV set-top boxes, government and public service radios, and enterprise wireless devices - could also suffer from the near-term disruptions.

In particular, Motorola's set-top box business could be vulnerable if disruption causes it to lose share against rival Cisco Systems and its Scientific-Atlanta unit, according to Lehman Brothers analyst Inder Singh. He added that Scientific-Atlanta has been gaining a few points of share against Motorola in the past few years.

Hiccups have occurred even without distractions. Verizon Communications earlier this month reported a shortage of set-top boxes for its FiOS TV service because of supply chain problems at Motorola.

-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; roger.cheng@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 26th March 2008