Verizon Business Readies for Networx Universal

Verizon Business has officially unveiled a suite of services and capabilities available to federal government agencies under the multibillion-dollar Networx Universal contract awarded by the U.S. General Services Administration on March 29. Last week Verizon Business met with representatives from federal agencies that soon will begin submitting orders under Networx Universal.



Networx Universal is the first of two Networx contracts awarded by the GSA to modernize federal government communications with seamless, secure and interoperable services to support the business of government. The second contract, Networx Enterprise, is expected to be awarded later this month. http://www.verizon.com

• Verizon Business last year opened a new Government Network Operations and Security Center (GNOSC) in Northern Virginia dedicated to supporting the unique security and operational requirements of federal government customers. The GNOSC, along with Verizon Business's vBNS+ (Very High Speed Backbone Network Service), will also play an important role in helping the federal government adopt IPv6 by the mandated transition target of June 2008.

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Alcatel-Lucent Revenues Decline 8% Year over Year

Alcatel-Lucent's Q1 2007 revenues were down 8% year over year at constant EUR/USD exchange rate at EUR 3.882 billion. The reported gross profit was Euro 1,127 million and reported operating loss was EUR (582) million, including the impact from purchase price allocation entries of EUR (338) million. For the quarter, reported net income (group share) was EUR (8) million or EUR 0.00 per diluted share (USD (0.01) per ADS).



Alcatel-Lucent cited lower sales volumes in wireless and core networks, but noted good momentum building in its order flow resulting in an improving order backlog with a book-to-bill at 1.3x.



Some highlights for the quarter:

• Revenue for the carrier business segment was EUR 2,839 million compared to EUR 3,340 million in the year-ago quarter, a 10% decline at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate, or a 15% decline at current rate. Adjusted operating income (loss) was EUR (194) million, a (6.8)% operating margin.



• Revenue for the carrier wireline business group was EUR 1,287 million compared to EUR 1,342 million in the year-ago quarter, a 1% increase at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate, or a 4% decline at current rate.



• In DSL, 7.3 million lines were delivered - with close to half of the volume from the IP-based ISAM platform.



• Revenue for the carrier wireless business group was EUR 1,204 million compared to EUR 1,495 million in the year-ago quarter, a 15% decline at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate, or a 20% decline at current rate.



• Revenue for the convergence business group was EUR 348 million compared to EUR 503 million in the year-ago quarter, a 28% decline at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate, or a 31% decline at current rate. Legacy core revenue, in both wireline and wireless, continued to decline in line with the market rate. The company said the next generation core business is still not nearly big enough to offset the declines in legacy core networking but progress is expected.



• Revenue for the enterprise business segment was EUR 371 million compared to EUR 342 million in the year-ago quarter, a 12% increase at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate, or a 9% increase at current rate. The company said revenues showed strength across all parts of the business, with a strong performance in Europe and Asia. The voice and data business contributed to the segment's growth with good momentum in IP telephony migration for small and medium businesses.



• Revenue for the services business segment was EUR 626 million compared to EUR 674 million in the year-ago quarter, a 3% decline at a constant EUR/USD exchange rate, or a 7% decline at current rate. Adjusted operating income (loss) was EUR (29) million, a (4.6)% operating margin.

Patricia Russo, CEO commented: "Having completed the largest merger in our industry, we are encouraged by the progress we are making with our overall integration plans. Since December 1, 2006, we have finalized the product and technology roadmaps for the combined company and are communicating these decisions to our customers, helping reduce any uncertainty regarding product plans. Additionally, during the first quarter we took costs out of the business in areas such as procurement, information systems and R&D, and have achieved a net headcount reduction of approximately 1,900 positions, before the impact of recently announced managed services contract wins. Based on this progress, we are on track to achieve our planned pre-tax savings of at least EUR 600 million this year, in line with our target of EUR 1.7 billion pre-tax savings within 3 years. We will strategically reinvest part of these savings in markets and technologies which we believe will enhance our position going forward."http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

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BT Kicks Off National IPTV Campaign

BT launched a multi-million pound campaign to promote its digital TV service under the theme "TV on your terms". The TV slots are supported by a nationwide BT Vision poster campaign across billboards and bus sides, including a specially created execution for the Clapham Colossus at Clapham Junction -- at 200ft, the largest backlit poster site in Europe.



BT Vision is enabled by the V-box, an HD-ready television set-top box which connects to BT Broadband where a customer has a minimum guaranteed line speed of 2 Mbps. The STB provides access to on-demand content and the Freeview channels. It also features a personal video recorder (PVR) which can record up to 80 hours of programming. BT is making the V-box -- worth £199 - free to BT Broadband customers and, unlike its main competitors, is also not charging extra each month for the DVR function. The box is installed by a BT engineer, with an installation fee of £60 and a connection charge of £30. BT will introduce a self-install version of BT Vision later this year.



Unlike existing satellite and cable services, BT Vision does not require a mandatory subscription or minimum monthly payment. Payment terms for on-demand programming are completely flexible. Customers can either pay-per-view or subscribe to programming blocks as they wish with entertainment to suit every taste. There are current and library movies, music videos, concerts, kids' programmes, recent and classic television including drama, comedy, documentaries and other genres. The huge selection of current movies are all available on a pay per view basis with the latest blockbuster titles at lower prices than are offered by satellite, cable and high street video chains.

http://www.btplc.com

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NTT Reaches 6 Million Optical Access Subscribers

NTT continues to aggressively add B-FLETs optical access lines while ADSL and narrowband lines continue to decline. As of 31-Mar-2007, NTT East was serving 3.4 million optical access lines and NTT West was serving 2.7 million optical access lines, giving a combined total of over 6 million B-FLETs lines in service, up from 3.4 million a year earlier. NTT expects to add another 3.4 million optical lines in the next year, by which time the number of optical access subscribers should be over 9 million -- more than double the expected number of remaining ADSL subscribers in March 2008.



Financially, NTT said its corporate earnings improved against a backdrop of strong demand in Japan and overseas driven by steady improvements in the Japanese economy. In the mobile communications market, NTT said growth in the overall number of subscribers remained sluggish, but third-generation mobile communications services are expanding steadily, and with the introduction of mobile number portability, price competition remains fierce.



NTT Group's consolidated operating revenues were 10,760.6 billion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 (an increase of 0.2% from the previous fiscal year) due to increases in IP-related revenues from B FLET'S and FOMA and system integration revenues. Consolidated operating expenses were 9,653.5 billion yen (an increase of 1.1% from the previous fiscal year) as a result of increased expenses associated with higher system integration revenues and increased mobile phone handset costs and other sales related expenses.



NTT's full annual financial report is now posted online.



http://www.ntt.co.jp

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