Nortel Networks
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest matching the category Nortel Networks.
In late-December 2005, I decided to conduct an experiment by launching a blog called All Nortel, All the Time that just about Nortel Networks. Why? Well, I had one of those Wordpress.com “golden tickets’ that I wanted to use; there were no other blogs dedicated to Nortel (surprise surprise!), and I wanted to see how much traffic I could attract by writing a blog that wasn’t bolstered by my profile as a business reporter with the National Post.
Over the past 14 months, I’ve written 433 posts on Nortel and generated 282,000 pageviews, which works out to about 30 posts a month and 23,000 pageviews. Not terribly successful in terms of traffic but not bad given I’m writing about one company with a stock price that, until recently, has been nothing to write home about. In the past month, however, things are looking up. All Nortel, All the Time was picked up by Seeking Alpha, which focuses on investment opportunities, and traffic hit a record high today at 2,760 pageviews (it didn’t hurt that the CFO quit yesterday, and the company announced 2,900 jobs cuts today).
I’d like to think All Nortel, All the Time’s quasi-success has to do with being focused, enthusiastic and committed - and I would argue these are the elements if you are going to blog the right way; be it about technology, cooking, books or sports. Perhaps the most rewarding part is the traffic and comments I get from Nortel employees, and the fact that after all this time, I’m still the only Nortel blog in town (other than Nortel CTO John Roese). Make of that what you will!
Written by Mark Evans on February 8th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Main Page and Nortel Networks.
Nortel has agreed to sell its UMTS unit to - surprise, surprise - Alcatel for $320-million. It was only a matter of time before Nortel sold the money-losing business, and Alcatel seemed to be the most logical buyer. While Nortel can certainly use the $320-million, it is below the expectations of analysts, who were looking for about $500-million. Nortel held a conference call today at 9 a.m. to provide an “update on advances to the execution of its business planâ€.
Written by Mark Evans on September 1st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Nortel Networks and Telecom Equipment Makers and M&A.
Nortel posted second-quarter earnings
of $366-million this morning, or 8 cents a share
(compared with analyst estimates of about 2 cents). Before investors get too excited and storm off to jump on the bandwagon again, the bottom line was nowhere as good as it appears. For one, profits were buoyed by a $510-million gain from
shareholder litigation recovery. After accounting for charges related
to restructuring and asset sales, Nortel lost about
$89-million in the quarter, or about 2 cents a share. Another sign Nortel has yet to recover is a sharp decline in gross margins to 39% from
43%. However, Nortel remains confident the rest of the year will be more
promising. CFO Peter Currie said the company exepcts strong sales momentum, high single-digit growth compared with 2005, gross margins of 40%, and operating expenses to be flat to slightly up.
Written by Mark Evans on August 3rd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Nortel Networks and Telecom Equipment Makers.
My column in today's
National Post looks at Nortel's need to spill the beans on where it's headed strategically. CEO Mike Zafirovski has been working away for more than seven months on his corporate makeover, and now analysts and investors want in on his master plan. By the way,
Nortel's
annual meeting is today.
Update: Here's
my story in Friday's National Post on the AGM. It includes some interesting details about some new stock options granted to Mike Z. at a lower strike plan than the ones he received last year when he was hired.
Written by Mark Evans on June 29th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Nortel Networks.
Surprise, surprise (well, not really),
Nortel is cutting 1,100 jobs and reviewing its pension plan. The jobs cuts will reduce annual operating expenses by $100-million in 2007 and $175-million in 2008. The company also unveiled changes to its pension plan from defined benefits to defined contributions
contributions to defined benefits, which will save Nortel about $100-million a year. And everyone wondered why Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski is
so bullish about the company's prospects.
Written by Mark Evans on June 27th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Nortel Networks.
For another long drink about Nortel in the wake of the Siemens-Nokia joint venture, check out my story in today's National Post.
Written by Mark Evans on June 20th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Nortel Networks.
If there wasn't enough consolidation pressure within the telecom equipment industry, a
mega-deal between Nokia and Siemens will likely up the ante. In a deal that will create a $19.9-billion entity creatively called
Nokia-Siemens Networks, Nokia will combine its network business unit with Siemens' carrier business. The new company, which comes in the wake of Alcatel's acquisition of Lucent, will have 60,000 employees but expects to shed 6,000 to 9,000 positions over the next four years.
Perhaps one of the biggest questions now is what happens to
Nortel, which had been rumoured to be exploring a deal with Siemens while there had also been active speculation about
a deal (described by Scotia Capital Markets analyst Gus Papageorgiou as "Norkia") with
Nokia. Did Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski get out-maneuvered or simply left sitting on the sidelines while two other players decided to dance? So what does Nortel do now? Maybe it goes after Siemens' enterprise business given Zafirovski is intent on Nortel playing in the market against rivals such as Cisco. Or perhaps Zafirovski will go after some kind of deal with Cisco or Juniper? Or does Nortel try to stay independent (if that's possible) until its makeover is done?
As for why consolidation is happening, there are a few key factors: competition is brutal so profit margins have been savaged even as overall sales have rebounded. As a result, equipment makers have no choice but to slash costs. (Nokia and Siemens figure they will save $1.9-billion a year). Another factor is competition from low-cost suppliers such as
Huawei and
ZTE that can aggressively bid for contracts. To make matters worse, you've got large customers such as SBC and AT&T getting together to shrink the number of equipment buyers.
Update: For other takes on the Nokia-Siemens deal, check out
Mathew Ingram,
Om Malik and
IP Democracy.
Written by Mark Evans on June 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Nortel Networks and Telecom Equipment Makers.