Tekelec to acquire Taqua

Tekelec, which is already entrenched in the softswitch market with its Santera group, will announce tomorrow that it is acquiring Taqua, according one industry source.

The acquisition will be for $120 million in a combination of stock and cash, the source said. The acquisition will be the second in the softswitch market for Tekelec and gives it a media gateway that it currently lacks with Santera.

"The products are really complementary," the source said. "They don’t overlap that much."

Tekelec refused to comment.

In April of last year, Tekelec and Santera combined their packet telephony operations into a single entity that is currently 52% owned by Tekelec. Tekelec, which contributed $28 million in cash to the operation, has the option under that agreement to increase its ownership percentage to 62.5% or purchase the remaining interest starting July 1, 2005.