PARIS — Alcatel-Lucent SA said Tuesday its recently appointed chief executive Ben Verwaayen will unveil at a conference on Dec. 12 a new strategic plan for the hobbled telecommunication equipment maker.

Verwaayen took over as CEO of Alcatel-Lucent in September. In October he said the company needed to streamline its portfolio and said he would undertake a "comprehensive" strategic review of the company's business to return it to profitability.

Among the changes being considered is the sale of Alcatel-Lucent's nearly 21 percent stake in defense contractor Thales SA. Last month the company said it was in exclusive talks with Dassault Aviation on a sale of the stake for euro38 ($48.25) a share, which values Thales at euro7.54 billion ($9.57 billion).

Alcatel-Lucent has been loss-making for the past seven quarters, stretching back to the company's creation through Alcatel SA's acquisition of Lucent Technologies Inc. for $11.4 billion in 2006.

Analysts say the problem is that the company is spreading itself thin and needs to narrow its focus.

Alcatel-Lucent has engaged in successive waves of restructuring, with the current plan calling for the elimination by the end of next year of 16,500 jobs out of a total work force of 76,410 at the end of 2007.