Since business at Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU), the telecommunications equipment supplier, can not get much worse, it has decided to fire more people. Four thousand souls will lose their jobs. The CFO is among that number.

The firm announced that [subscription required] it lost €345 million in the third quarter against a pro forma profit of €532 million last year. The company uses pro forma numbers to show the results of the corporation as if the merger had been completed in the 2006 period. Revenue fell 11% to €4.35 billion.

Alcatel-Lucent said that its wireless revenue had dropped during that quarter.

The company and its CEO Patricia Russo are now out of excuses. The reason for the merger of the US and French companies was to save hundreds of million of dollars in redundant costs and create a global sales force to sell the products of both companies. The move also ended competition between the firms, which should have allowed for less discounting to gain customers.

Based on results from competitor Ericsson, it appears that spending on equipment at big telecommunications companies has slowed down, at least for now. That makes Alcatel-Lucent's position even more difficult.

Even with further cost cuts, the company is not likely to recover if its core markets are drying up.

The merger is a bust.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24wallst.com.