Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson is in talks to buy U.K. rival Marconi and a deal could be announced within weeks, people familiar with the negotiations said Sunday.

The Financial Mail newspaper said in an unsourced report on Sunday that Ericsson saw a total valuation for Marconi of up to 1.3 billion pounds ($2.3 billion), roughly twice its current market value.

Marconi, which nearly collapsed in the 2001 telecoms industry meltdown, declined to comment.

In Stockholm, a spokeswoman for Ericsson said the group never commented on “rumors and speculation.”

Marconi received a major blow in April after BT Group cut the group out of its network upgrade plan. It has since announced plans to cut 800 jobs and promised to look at all of its strategic options.

The possible deal comes amid a flurry of activity in the telecoms sector as chief executives get back into buying mode after years of restructuring.

Last week, British cable operator NTL agreed to a long-awaited deal to buy smaller rival Telewest for $6 billion.

In July, France Telecom grabbed control of Amena in a deal valuing Spain’s third-ranked mobile phone group at 10.6 billion euros ($12.8 billion).

The Financial Mail said the possible Ericsson-Marconi deal was put together with investment banks Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Lazard advising Marconi, while Enskilda acted for Ericsson.

A report in the Observer newspaper said British parliamentarians were demanding that the government intervene in a possible bid for Marconi by China’s Huawei Technologies, because of concerns the company was too closely associated with the Chinese government.

Ericsson has said that its acquisition strategy would involve buying small to medium-size companies worth between $200 million to $700 million that would be add-ons to its existing business rather than bigger deals.