There were mixed reactions to news that the much-anticipated acquisition of Arris by CommScope had been agreed. Most of the negative comments from investment analysts related to the low profitability of Arris’s heartland business in set-top boxes (STBs), but in reality, Arris has been making strategic acquisitions to diversify its business and boost its margins, and some of those products will prove highly strategic for its parent. The $7.4bn deal is likely to see an acceleration in Arris’s move away from STBs. There is a slim chance the deal could give Arris sufficient scale for a remarkable turnaround in its core activity, better able to compete with Samsung, Humax and Huawei. But it is more probable that the combined company…