Wimax specialist Alvarion will cut more than 20% of staff after delays in deployments drove down sales in the first quarter.
In a result that underlined the fragility of the Wimax gear market, the company yesterday announced a Q1 loss of $4.9 million (€3.77 million) compared with $800,000 last year.
It posted $51.9 million in sales, down 24% compared with a year ago and 14% lower than Q4 2009.
CEO Eran Gorev said the results reflected delays by carriers in going ahead with deployments and warned that they would continue.
The staff cuts – which Gorev said would be implemented across the board – would affect about 175 employees. The Israeli-based company employed 877 people at end 2009.
Speaking on a conference call, he admitted that the lower headcount could also impact on the company’s plan to boost its professional services business.
CFO Efrat Makov said that second quarter revenue could be lower than Q1 because of the “potential for continued delays in several projects.”
“With the timings of revenues related to these projects so difficult to predict we have decided not to give specific revenue guidance,” she said.