Alcatel-Lucent last year became the first company to claim more than 20% of the optical networking market, thanks mostly to the Alcatel side of the house, according to data released this week by Ovum-RHK.

Combining the results of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies, the newly merged firm took slightly more than 23% of the nearly $12 billion optical market in 2006. That’s more than double the share held by its closest competitor, Huawei Technologies, which took more than 11%. Nortel Networks came in third place with more than 9%.

Strong sales of Alcatel’s wavelength-division multiplexing gear in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) helped push the vendor over the 20% mark for the year. In last year’s fourth quarter, Alcatel alone took slightly more than 20% of the $3.2 billion market. Lucent’s contribution pushed the combined company’s quarterly share up to just over 24%.

Last year’s fourth quarter was the best quarter the global optical market has seen in more than four years, Ovum-RHK said, but the domestic market shrank below $1 billion for the first time in a year due to curbed spending among large U.S. carriers. Spending in EMEA last quarter exceeded $1 billion.

Huawei also benefited from strong overseas optical spending. Its fourth-quarter optical revenue was up 42% sequentially and 23% from a year earlier.

The optical market has long been notoriously fragmented. Alcatel was the market leader in 2005, when it held only a 16% share.