Thursday, November 3, 2011

Alcatel-Lucent's Q3 Revenue Slips to Euro 3,797 million

Alcatel-Lucent reported a disappointing Q3 with overall revenue decreasing 6.8% year-over-year and 2.7% sequentially to Euro 3,797 million. At constant currency exchange rates and perimeter, revenue decreased 0.7% year-over-year and decreased 3.8% sequentially. Reported net income (group share) was Euro 194 million or Euro 0.08 per share.


Some key trends for the period:

  • Sales were strong in North America with a year-over-year increase of 10%, and in the Rest of World, especially in Central and Latin America with sustained double digit growth rate. Asia Pacific as well as Europe witnessed a double digit rate declines.


  • Networks saw a low single digit decrease this quarter, reflecting mixed trends.


  • IP, the fastest growing division, followed by Wireless, driven by CDMA and LTE. Revenues for the IP division were Euro 376 million, a 2.7% increase from the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the Wireless division were Euro 1,032 million, a decrease of 3.4% from the year-ago quarter. At constant currency exchange rates, wireless revenues increased 2.8% year-over-year.


  • Within Wireline, PON technologies maintained a strong progression, more than offset by a decline of IPDSLAM and legacy products.


  • In Optics, both terrestrial and submarine declined at a high single digit rate.


  • Software, Services & Solutions decreased at a low single digit rate. Within that segment, the slight growth in Services was driven by Network & System Integration and Managed Services, offset by a decline in Network Applications.


  • Enterprise witnessed a strong quarter, driven by Genesys and Data networking.


“We are reducing our costs and increasing our profitability. However, we are not at a level we are satisfied with. And given economic uncertainties, we will take more radical actions to accelerate our transformation and reduce quickly our costs structure, especially in Europe. This will generate additional savings in 2012 of € 200 million in fixed costs addressing mainly our SG&A spending and € 300 million in variable costs addressing mainly project and delivery efficiency. For the remaining part of 2011, given these market uncertainties, and selective spending from our customers, especially in Europe, we now expect weaker revenues there than initially planned in the fourth quarter of 2011," stated Ben Verwaayen, Alcatel-Lucent's CEO.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

AT&T Sees T-Mobile Deal Closing in Q2 2012

AT&T pushed back the expected timeline for its closing its acquisition of T-Mobile USA. In an SEC filing, the company said it expects the deal to close in Q2 2012.


The deal was first announced on 31-March-2011.
http://www.att.com

United Airlines to Equip Aircraft with Wi-Fi from Panasonic

The entire United Continental mainline aircraft fleet will be equipped with Wi-Fi by 2015. United Continental has selected Panasonic Avionics Corporation to provide Wi-Fi connectivity on more than 300 United Airlines and Continental Airlines mainline aircraft beginning in mid-2012. The airline expects to install the Panasonic system on Airbus 319 and 320 and Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft. Customers will be able to use their wireless devices such as laptops, smart phones and tablets onboard those aircraft to connect with internet service using the in-flight hotspot.


Panasonic said its Ku-band satellite technology offers faster speed than air-to-ground technology (ATG) and will provide connectivity on flights worldwide. The system will also enable wireless streaming of video content.


"Our customers tell us they value Wi-Fi," said Jim Compton, United's executive vice president and chief revenue officer. "As a global carrier, we selected satellite-based Ku-band technology to enable customers to stay connected on long-haul overseas flights, something no other U.S.-based international carrier currently offers."


Continental Airlines previously announced plans to install satellite-based Wi-Fi on more than 200 DIRECTV®-equipped aircraft beginning in 2012.
http://www.united.com

Sprint Moves Ahead with $4 Billion in Financing

Sprint moved ahead with the pricing of its previously announced offering of $1 billion of 1.5% notes due 2021 and $3 billion aggregate principal amount of 9% guaranteed notes due 2018.


Sprint said it will use the funds for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, redemptions or service requirements of outstanding debt, network expansion and modernization and potential funding of Clearwire.
http://www.sprint.com

Alcatel-Lucent's Q3 Revenue Slips to Euro 3,797 million

Alcatel-Lucent reported a disappointing Q3 with overall revenue decreasing 6.8% year-over-year and 2.7% sequentially to Euro 3,797 million. At constant currency exchange rates and perimeter, revenue decreased 0.7% year-over-year and decreased 3.8% sequentially. Reported net income (group share) was Euro 194 million or Euro 0.08 per share.


Some key trends for the period:

  • Sales were strong in North America with a year-over-year increase of 10%, and in the Rest of World, especially in Central and Latin America with sustained double digit growth rate. Asia Pacific as well as Europe witnessed a double digit rate declines.


  • Networks saw a low single digit decrease this quarter, reflecting mixed trends.


  • IP, the fastest growing division, followed by Wireless, driven by CDMA and LTE. Revenues for the IP division were Euro 376 million, a 2.7% increase from the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the Wireless division were Euro 1,032 million, a decrease of 3.4% from the year-ago quarter. At constant currency exchange rates, wireless revenues increased 2.8% year-over-year.


  • Within Wireline, PON technologies maintained a strong progression, more than offset by a decline of IPDSLAM and legacy products.


  • In Optics, both terrestrial and submarine declined at a high single digit rate.


  • Software, Services & Solutions decreased at a low single digit rate. Within that segment, the slight growth in Services was driven by Network & System Integration and Managed Services, offset by a decline in Network Applications.


  • Enterprise witnessed a strong quarter, driven by Genesys and Data networking.


“We are reducing our costs and increasing our profitability. However, we are not at a level we are satisfied with. And given economic uncertainties, we will take more radical actions to accelerate our transformation and reduce quickly our costs structure, especially in Europe. This will generate additional savings in 2012 of € 200 million in fixed costs addressing mainly our SG&A spending and € 300 million in variable costs addressing mainly project and delivery efficiency. For the remaining part of 2011, given these market uncertainties, and selective spending from our customers, especially in Europe, we now expect weaker revenues there than initially planned in the fourth quarter of 2011," stated Ben Verwaayen, Alcatel-Lucent's CEO.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

AT&T Sees T-Mobile Deal Closing in Q2 2012

AT&T pushed back the expected timeline for its closing its acquisition of T-Mobile USA. In an SEC filing, the company said it expects the deal to close in Q2 2012.


The deal was first announced on 31-March-2011.
http://www.att.com

United Airlines to Equip Aircraft with Wi-Fi from Panasonic

The entire United Continental mainline aircraft fleet will be equipped with Wi-Fi by 2015. United Continental has selected Panasonic Avionics Corporation to provide Wi-Fi connectivity on more than 300 United Airlines and Continental Airlines mainline aircraft beginning in mid-2012. The airline expects to install the Panasonic system on Airbus 319 and 320 and Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft. Customers will be able to use their wireless devices such as laptops, smart phones and tablets onboard those aircraft to connect with internet service using the in-flight hotspot.


Panasonic said its Ku-band satellite technology offers faster speed than air-to-ground technology (ATG) and will provide connectivity on flights worldwide. The system will also enable wireless streaming of video content.


"Our customers tell us they value Wi-Fi," said Jim Compton, United's executive vice president and chief revenue officer. "As a global carrier, we selected satellite-based Ku-band technology to enable customers to stay connected on long-haul overseas flights, something no other U.S.-based international carrier currently offers."


Continental Airlines previously announced plans to install satellite-based Wi-Fi on more than 200 DIRECTV®-equipped aircraft beginning in 2012.
http://www.united.com

Sprint Moves Ahead with $4 Billion in Financing

Sprint moved ahead with the pricing of its previously announced offering of $1 billion of 1.5% notes due 2021 and $3 billion aggregate principal amount of 9% guaranteed notes due 2018.


Sprint said it will use the funds for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, redemptions or service requirements of outstanding debt, network expansion and modernization and potential funding of Clearwire.
http://www.sprint.com

DragonWave Opens New Doors with Acquisition of NSN's Microwave Transport Business

DragonWave announced a transformative deal to acquire Nokia Siemens Networks' microwave transport business, including its associated operational support systems (OSS) and related support functions, in a transaction potentially worth up to EUR 110 million.


The deal provides DragonWave with an existing microwave transport business serving many top carriers worldwide, a more extensive product portfolio, an on-going agreement under which its will become the preferred, strategic supplier to Nokia Siemens Networks of packet microwave and related products, and joint R&D work with NSN. The division has sales several times larger than DragonWave, its client base is much larger, and it has more employees (360), mainly based in Milan, Italy and Shanghai, China.


Nokia Siemens Networks would retain responsibility for its existing solution sales and associated services for microwave transport, while DragonWave would be responsible for the product line, including R&D, product management and operations functions.


"This relationship is transformational, giving us the ability to serve customers who want to access an integrated solution. In addition, it provides DragonWave an expanded technology base to address those customers who wish to purchase stand-alone best-in-breed products. Our increased scale, diversity and customer footprint, coupled with significantly enhanced resources and capabilities, will provide a solid foundation for faster innovation and broader market penetration," stated Peter Allen, president & chief executive officer of DragonWave.


For Nokia Siemens Networks, the deal allows it to focus more its core products and services, while slimming the size of the company and getting the benefits of DragonWave's innovations in packet microwave products.


The financial terms of the deal call for DragonWave to pay approximately 10 million euros in cash and 5 million euros worth of DragonWave common shares, assume employee liabilities of approximately 10 million euros, enter into a capital asset lease arrangement for approximately 5 million euros, an potentially pay sales performance based earn-out payments of up to 80 million euros. http://www.dragonwaveinc.com http://www.nsn.com

  • Last month, DragonWave introduced its "Avenue" backhaul solution for small cell base stations. DragonWave's new product accommodates a wide range of 3G or 4G microcellular RAN access units and leverages an integrated backhaul antenna array supporting up to three simultaneous backhaul beam paths using frequencies ranging from 2 GHz to 80 GHz to deliver 1.2 Gbps of aggregate, full-duplex capacity. Alternatively, the Avenue can be backhauled via fiber or DSL. RAN base stations integrated into the Avenue can be backhauled over distances up to 4 km/2.5 mi. The Avenue's ultra-high capacity enables the support of a wide range of network topologies (self-healing rings, constrained meshes, point-to-point/daisy-chaining or multi-point). DragonWave said it engineered the Avenue to deliver the highest levels of spectral efficiency and reliability for carrier-grade delivery of advanced applications and services.


  • Earlier this year, introduced its Horizon Harmony platform, a packet-based, high-capacity system for transporting converged TDM, ATM, Frame Relay and packet-based Ethernet traffic. This DragonWave platform, which leverages technology from its recent acquisition of Axerra Networks, integrates pseudowire and packet microwave technologies. Horizon Harmony operates in the 6 to 60 GHz frequency range and delivers a number of advanced technologies including: Bandwidth Accelerator, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces in addition to the standard 10/100BaseT interfaces; integrated RF and TDM loopbacks, Hitless Automatic Adaptive Modulation (HAAM); and, advanced Ethernet capabilities such as port-based VLAN tagging/switching and support for advanced Ethernet OAM (operations, administration and management) capability.


    DragonWave also introduced its Horizon Compact+ all-outdoor packet radio. The Horizon Compact+ system incorporates XPIC (Cross Polarization Interference Cancellation) technology and also becomes the first to take advantage of XPIC's spectrum-doubling capability. Building on the capacity increases from DragonWave's previously announced Bandwidth Accelerator technology, this spectrum-doubling capability increases the data bandwidth of Horizon Compact+ to as high as 2 Gbps. Horizon Compact+ operates in licensed or unlicensed spectrum from 6 to 60 GHz.

NTT Com's Transpacific Cable Sees 100G Upgrade in 2013

NTT Communications confirmed that it will deploy 100 Gbps coherent transmission technology in its PC-1 transpacific submarine cable system by the middle of 2013. The upgrade will boost the PC-1's transmission capacity to 10 terabits per second (Tbps), more than triple its current capacity of 3.2 Tbps.



"Our subsea cable system PC-1 is an important international communications for the United States and Japan as proven during the March 11 disaster. Enhancing the capabilities of this PC-1, which provides the trans-pacific shortest link, through the most advanced technologies will satisfy ever increasing traffic and will be extremely beneficial for users." said Takahiro Sumimoto, CEO of PC Landing Corp.


PC Landing Corp., an NTT Com group company and operator of the PC-1, succeeded in a trial 100 Gbps optical communication transmission using digital coherent technology in October. The trial, conducted over more than 9,500 kilometers of PC-1 fiber, was supported by the PC-1's optically optimized architecture including efficiently placed optical repeaters and optical fiber layout. http://www.ntt.co.jp

  • In October 2011, Infinera and Pacific Crossing, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT Communications, have completed a 100 Gbps trial using the PC-1 transpacific submarine cable system. The test spanned more than 9,500 kilometers from California to Japan.


    Infinera said this trial demonstrates the unique ability to deliver two industry firsts. The 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) demonstration was the first transmission of a 100 GbE client service carried across the Pacific using 40 Gbps optical channels with Infinera's FlexCoherent transmission. The success of this trial was based on Infinera's commercially available 40 Gbps optical line module and 100 GbE client interface on Infinera's DTN platform.


    The second demonstration was the first realization of a 100 Gbps optical channel using binary phase shift keying (BPSK) with soft decision forward error correction (SD FEC) that will be available in the future on Infinera's DTN-X platform. Infinera's FlexCoherent technology enables service providers to optimize transmission performance across a range of applications using multiple software-programmable modulation formats. Infinera recently announced the availability of new DTN capabilities and the new DTN-X platform featuring both photonic integrated circuit (PIC) based super-channels and FlexCoherent transmission.