Swiss telecom equipment firm Tyco Electronics boosted its presence in the U.S. market with a $1.25 billion agreement to purchase ADC Telecommunications, a key supplier of wireline and wireless network infrastructure to Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Announced on Tuesday, Tyco’s cash offer of $12.75 per share represents a premium of 44% over ADC’s closing share price on Monday. In addition to doubling the size of Tyco’s networking business, the deal could position Tyco as a top global provider of broadband connectivity products to wireline and wireless carriers as well as to enterprise networks. Minnesota-based ADC, whose roots go back to 1935, generated more than $1 billion in sales last year of fiber-optic and wireless connectivity equipment used for the delivery of high-speed Internet traffic on fixed and mobile networks. In addition to expanding ADC’s market beyond the U.S. border, the transaction is expected to position both companies to respond more efficiently to the surging demand for wired and wireless broadband network products, both in the U.S. and internationally. As ADC CEO Robert Switz observed that “our organization’s ability to serve the world’s leading telecommunications services providers . . . will be strengthened significantly” through the deal, Tyco CEO Tom Lynch asserted that the combination “creates an industry leader with the scope and geographic scale to help customers deliver needed capacity, from the core of the network all the way to the end user.”