Alcatel-Lucent

Only room for three infrastructure vendors, claims incoming NSN boss

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:48:23 -0400

While calmly stating that Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) would continue with its existing strategy, the newly appointed CEO, Rajeev Suri, made plain that, out of the current five or six infrastructure vendors, NSN would be one of the three left standing after consolidation within the industry.

Suri also stressed that he saw good business opportunities in the service segment, as evidenced over the past few months with NSN winning large service deals from companies including France Telecom Orange in Spain and the UK.

This emphasis on service is timely given that NSN has forecast that equipment sales will fall by 10 per cent this year (which is lower than some other vendors), with the company reporting a Q2 gross margin of 28 per cent, down from 31.5 per cent a year earlier, while sales fell 21 per cent year on year.

The suggestion that industry consolidation is expected comes after the share price of Alcatel-Lucent jumped by around 20 per cent last week following rumours that an Asian manufacturer was on the prowl - namely Huawei or ZTE, both of which are gaining market share at the expense of NSN and Alcatel-Lucent.

While this speculation has been dismissed by both Chinese firms, the prospect of NSN merging with Alcatel-Lucent has now been floated. While this idea has been rubbished by some industry watchers, given that both firms have already undergone huge and complex mergers, Richard Windsor, global technology specialist at Nomura, painted a bleak picture for NSN, claiming, "the company is between the devil and the deep blue sea - it's neither a technology leader nor a cost leader."

For NSN, while merging with Alcatel-Lucent would give it the scale it needs to improve profits while strengthening its position in LTE technology, it could struggle to finance such a big purchase.

For more on this story:
Total Telecom and Reuters

Alca-Lu makes surprise return to profit, eyes LTE opportunity

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:04:43 -0400

Financial analysts greeted Alcatel-Lucent's return to profit with unreserved glee--perhaps not surprising given that the last time this happened was in 2006. However, while posting a net income of €14 million for Q2/09, this performance (which market watchers don't expect to occur again in the near-term) benefited from gains made on asset sales of its satellite business and a 20 per cent stake in defence contractor Thales.

However, the company's CEO, Ben Verwaayen, made a pointed reference (as reported by Unstrung) to LTE as a technology capable of fuelling the company's recovery. "A lot is happening in LTE around the world, and not all of it is announced. We are extremely well positioned"--which analysts interpreted as meaning the fast-pace of LTE deployments planned for the US.

Regardless of this upbeat assessment, the French industry minister Christian Estrosi referred last week to the merger of Alcatel and Lucent as a ‘mistake', and warned the company not to threaten French jobs by offshoring R&D activities or closing further French manufacturing facilities. Earlier this month Alca-Lu said it would cut a further 850 jobs in France as part of an overall plan to save €750 million this year, which will involve 16,500 job losses worldwide.

For more on this story:
Rethink Wireless and Unstrung

Alca-Lu: Worldwide equipment market to fall 8%-12%, but committed to LTE

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:16:26 -0400

French-based Alcatel-Lucent believes that the global market for telecoms equipment will decline by between 8 per cent and 12 per cent - at constant currency exchange rates - in 2009. Speaking at a telecoms conference last week, the company's CEO, Pierre Barnabe, said that while investments appeared to be slowing, demand for capacity remained resilient.

Looking to halt suggestions that Alca-Lu was planning to exit the wireless business, Barnabe said that the company remained focused on the sector, and added that the multi-billion US$ contract with Verizon Wireless "had definitely anchored us strongly in that business."

This viewpoint was strongly reinforced by the recent announcement that NTT DoCoMo had awarded an LTE backhaul contract to Alca-Lu. The company has been requested to supply multipoint Ethernet connections using its 1850 transport service switches to support operations, administration, security and network management. DoCoMo has stated that it plans to deploy LTE starting next year having demonstrated downlink rates of 250Mbps in outdoor R&D trials.

However, financial analysts have recently downgraded Alca-Lu to underperform following reports that Nortel had agreed to sell its CDMA and LTE business to Nokia Siemens Networks.

For more on this story:
Telegeography

EPlus picks Alcatel-Lucent for ad platform

Sue Marek — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:10:00 -0400

German operator EPlus group, through its subsidiary Gettings, is the first carrier to use Alcatel-Lucent's new advertising selection server for its mobile ad platform. The carrier, which has 15 million subscribers, launched the platform last week.

In an interview with FierceWireless:Europe, Rudy Bross, Alcatel-Lucent's director of strategy and marketing for the company's digital media and advertising business, said the advertising selection server will let carriers target mobile ad messages at certain audiences via different methods. For example, a carrier could direct a message via MMS Push, WAP or video, and have it directed at a certain demographic group. "We are helping service providers turn their subscribers into audiences," Bross said. "Media buyers are interested in audiences."

The advertising platform is implemented as a hosted solution and the service allows consumers to opt-in to receive the advertisements. For example, EPlus is using a tool that gives consumers an option to opt-in for the advertising when they check their prepaid balances.

Consumers can choose between three packages--S, M and L--where they receive between 10 to 25 mobile ads per week. The service lets them input their preferences so they receive only mobile ads that are of value to them.

Related articles:
Report: Downturn will yield mobile ad opportunities
Mobile ads 30 times more effective than Internet banners, claims T-Mobile
Mobile advertising recall and response rising

2010 is year for femtocells, claims Alcatel-Lucent exec

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:51:15 -0400

The build-up to fulfill femtocell equipment contracts from more than 20 mobile operators worldwide could be the reason behind Alcatel-Lucent's prediction that 2010 will be the year femtocells make their market breakthrough.

Yannick Dupuch, director of femto product lines at Alcatel-Lucent, believes there will be significant expansion in the femtocell market next year with sales of between 5 and 10 million units. Dupuch said the company already was shipping 3G femtocells to a number of mobile operators, including Chunghwa Telecom, and was looking to establish partnerships with a number of Taiwan-based manufacturers to develop femtocell equipment on a long-term basis, given that the production of this technology required a higher level of software expertise.

As a further indication of the maturity of the technology, ip.access has announced its picocells had been deployed to provide additional network coverage for last weekend's Monaco F1 Grand Prix. The deal comes on the back of Monaco Telecom's recent deployment of ip.access's nanoBTS systems to boost network services to VIPs, businesses and hotels in the principality.

For more on this story:
DigiTimes and Cellular News

'Mobile infrastructure unit will become profitable,' states Al-Lu head

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:42:24 -0500

Despite his company having lost money for some years, the CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Ben Verwaayen, has vigourously argued its mobile infrastructure division should be retained, and promised it would become profitable.

Verwaayen pointed to the 50 customers worldwide that presently use its W-CDMA networking equipment, maintaining that the unit was a valuable asset to the company and its customers. He also claimed the mobile infrastructure R&D unit was vital to the future development of Alcatel-Lucent's LTE technology plans.

Seemingly unworried by the worldwide downturn in infrastructure Capex--the company has warned it could experience a sales decline in this sector of between 8 and 12 per cent--Verwaayen indicated his determination to succeed, stating: "I will give it my all to make sure that we achieve an operating margin in the mid to high single digits by 2011."

Market analysts, however, remain concerned about the company's relatively weak position in the 3G infrastructure market compared to its rivals.

For more on this story:
TeleGeography and Financial Times

Related stories:
Huawei's Mobile Infrastructure Star Is Rising as Alcatel-Lucent's Declines
Alcatel-Lucent may sell Bridgewater stake
Alcatel-Lucent steps up LTE investments, backs off WiMAX
Alcatel-Lucent CEO: We'll be ready with LTE

'We're not quitting wireless,' says Alcatel-Lucent CEO

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:33:42 -0500

Despite being pressured by some of its major investors, the newly appointed CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Ben Verwaayen, has strongly countered that it is committed to being a major supplier of mobile infrastructure.

At a major presentation on Friday, Verwaayen is expected to stress the company will maintain its R&D resources and will be ready with LTE products when the market demands. His plans are expected to detail how Alcatel-Lucent will focus in a more targeted way than in the past, putting LTE at the very centre of its efforts to regain market share and become a leading supplier within 18 months.

Observers have already questioned this strategy, given that the joint venture has posted seven straight quarters of losses, and believe the company would have better prospects by focusing on a fixed-line market leaving the wireless infrastructure and business to be battled over by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and the Chinese vendors.

One area the company is expected to exit - albeit as the clear market leader today, is the CDMA arena which is suffering rapid decline in demand and margins.

For more:
- go to EE Times

Related articles:
Alcatel-Lucent strategic plan coming Dec. 12
Alcatel-Lucent teams with Quantum on mobile TV