The struggling telecommunications-equipment maker said it would put the plan to a shareholder vote at the company's next annual meeting in February.

Under the plan, Lucent would issue one share for an unspecified number of shares, resulting in a post-split stock price of $15 to $25 a share. The value of each shareholder's stake would not change.

Lucent's move echoes that of rival Nortel Networks (NT) , which recently said it plans a reverse split. Also on Friday, Swedish vendor Ericsson (ERICY) unveiled plans for a stock split.

All three companies' shares trade below $1. Under New York Stock Exchange rules, companies could be delisted if their shares trade under $1 for 30 straight days. Still, the NYSE is likely to grant some flexibility in allowing companies to get back above that benchmark.

So far, Lucent has closed under that level for 13 straight days. Over the past 30 days, the average closing price has also fallen below $1.

In early Friday action, Lucent (LU) shares fell 5 cents to 70 cents. The stock once traded as high as $65.

Nortel (NT) has closed under $1 for 25 straight days. In September, the company said it would seek approval of a reverse split that would boost its stock price to a range of $10 to $20.

Nortel shares were down 3 cents to 56 cents in recent trading.

Glory days fade

Nortel and, to a lesser extent, Lucent issued millions of new shares during the telecommunications boom of the late 1990s to pay for acquisitions of hot startup companies with attractive technologies. Many of those purchases have not panned out, however.

The rash of proposed splits follow recent moves by the larger phone companies to cut capital spending in light of slack sales, big debts and, in WorldCom's case, the nation's largest-ever bankruptcy.

During the boom years, the industry experienced unprecedented growth, but sales fell off a cliff after the U.S. economy took a nosedive in 2001. The industry found itself with too many companies chasing too few customers and receiving too little revenue in return.

Last week, Lucent said it will chop 10,000 additional jobs and take a $4 billion charge to counter dwindling sales.

By year-end, Lucent expects to have 35,000 workers, down from a zenith of more than 100,000 just two years ago.

The company reiterated that sales are expected to fall as much as 25 percent from $2.95 billion in the fiscal third quarter. It'll also post its 10th straight quarterly loss.

Lucent lowered its break-even revenue point to $2.5 billion a quarter. Just one year ago, the vendor thought it could achieve break-even status on $4.25 billion in sales.