Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia last week announced a .6 billion (15.6 billion euros) deal to buy French rival Alcatel-Lucent. When the transaction is completed, the combined company will become a strong No.2 player in its industry after Ericsson of Sweden. Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent together will also bring more R&D power to fuel innovation, although consumers of phone services are unlikely to see any immediate benefits from the merger. Saikat Chaudhuri , Wharton adjunct management professor and executive director of the school’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management , predicts a two-fold effect from the merger. “One, consolidation typically leads to power going to the hands of suppliers,” he says. Pricing is the second area that will see an impact, he adds. Phone services providers like AT&T, T-Mobile and others in fast-growing emerging markets place equipment orders worth tens of billions of dollars.…