Paris-based telecom company Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) recently reported its fourth quarter earnings for 2011, showing its first profit since Alcatel and Lucent Technologies merged nearly six years ago.

In a post-earnings report interview with the company’s CEO, Ben Verwaayen (News - Alert) sheds light on the past year’s financial results and shares his outlook for 2012, anticipating Alcatel-Lucent will finish this year ahead of 201, driven by consumer demand for mobility and cloud.

“We were on a three-year journey to become a normal company, and we almost made it. After Q3, most people thought wouldn’t make it. We had a very good Q4; we delivered what we said we would,” Verwaayen told Euro Business Media. “We did much better on profits than in 2010, we doubled our profits in 2011. We did very good in Q4 on cash. But if I add everything up, it was not where we wanted to end up in total after the three years.”

On Feb. 10, the company said that for Q42011, it reported a free cash flow of 541 million euros ($713.6 million U.S.) and annualized fixed costs savings of 300 million euros ($395.7 million U.S.).

“So while we are very pleased with the result of Q4 in isolation, we are not very happy where we ended up in the total,” Verwaayen said.

He also said he expects Alcatel-Lucent will have a stronger cash position by the end of this year.

“We basically have said to the market two things: better margins and expect that we will have a substantial cash position at the end of 2012, and it’s important because both elements are making the business successful,” Verwaayen explained. “The cash is important, because as you know in this particular industry, cash is not a prerequisite that you can count on necessarily so you have to work hard to get it.”

Looking ahead, Verwaayen predicts that Alcatel-Lucent will finish 2012 ahead of 2011, but only time will tell just how much farther ahead those results will be.

“I think that we will have a much better position at the end of 2012. A strong cash position, that’s what we have said to the market,” he said. “And if you look to the profitability, we’ll do better in 2012 than in 2011. How much better? We’ll see.”

In terms of the company’s strategic priorities for the coming year, Verwaayen said Alcatel-Lucent will focus on the needs of its customers, which is dominated by mobility and cloud demands of consumers.

“As always, it is customers first,” Verwaayen said. “We need to make sure that we stay relevant to our customers; that we deliver to them in a time fashion that is suiting them, the innovations that can create that new relationship that our customers, the operators have with customers, the operators, have with the consumer and that’s dominated by two elements – it’s all about mobility and it’s all about cloud.”

In 2012, Alcatel-Lucent plans to focus on its software assets and wireless and fixed-line products, according to Verwaayen, who noted the company was “operating in a challenging environment in 2011,” TMCnet reported.