Hickory, North Carolina-based CommScope says Lucent wants it to register 10.2 million shares acquired last year when CommScope took an 18.4 percent interest in a joint venture formed to buy some optical fiber assets from Lucent.

CommScope said the shares were issued under a registration rights agreement in lieu of part of the cash purchase price of the assets purchased from Lucent.

CommScope also said that it does not plan to sell any shares under the registration, and that the registration will pertain only to its shares held by Lucent.

"(Lucent has) the right to ask us to register (the shares) after a certain point in time," a CommScope spokesman told Reuters. He said Lucent has actually had the right since earlier this year, but did not have details as to why they chose to exercise it at this time.

The registration would allow Lucent to sell the shares, though CommScope said in a statement there was no guarantee any shares would be sold if the registration became effective. CommScope also said there was no guarantee a registration statement would ever be filed.

"This is a normal procedure," a Lucent spokeswoman told Reuters. "We always expected to sell the shares. We feel now's the right time to do that."