BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Alcatel-Lucent announced Tuesday it will purchase broadband service management software provider Motive Inc. in a deal the French telecommunications company valued at 67.8 million U.S. dollars.

    The purchase price of 2.23 dollars per share works out to a premium of nearly 53 percent over Motive's closing price Monday. Motive stock trades on the over-the-counter Pink Sheets.

    Austin, Texas-based Motive has 300 employees, with operations in Austin and Bangalore, India.

    Alcatel-Lucent and Motive have worked together for three years to offer remote-management software designed to support home networking devices known as residential gateways. Their joint customers include AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and BT Group PLC.

    (Agencies)