Equipment vendors bracing for rough Q1

Telecom equipment vendors are bracing for what is expected to be a fairly rough round of first-quarter earnings, with the global economic recession cutting into demand from both consumers and carriers alike, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal, in an earnings forecast of some of the world's biggest European equipment vendors, found that while some would fare better than others, 2009 will generally be more difficult than 2008 for the companies.

Nokia Siemens Networks has predicted a 5 percent drop in the overall network infrastructure services market, while Ericsson is expected to perform reasonably well in its core networks business but suffer from an overall drop in demand. Further, Ericsson's handset joint venture with Sony, Sony Ericsson, has been performing poorly and may need to raise more capital this year.

As for Alcatel-Lucent, the firm is expected to announce a drop in revenue across the board, including in its wireless business. The company recently said it expects to return to profitability in the second half of 2010.

Alcatel-Lucent is set to report May 4, while Ericsson is scheduled for April 30. Nokia is to report Thursday, and it likely will provide insight into its networks venture with Siemens.

For more:
- see this WSJ article [1] (sub. req.)

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