Top stories 24-01-05 N48

Lucent is "working on a data-focused disruptive technology" to sell into UMTS markets, according to Pat Russo, Lucent’s CEO. We do not know yet what she meant, but some new wireless developments will be showcased early February in next annual 3GSM show in Cannes, France.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell resigned effective in March. His tenure is widely approved by US large telcos and vendors for its accomplishments in broadband deployment, allocation of spectrum for wireless broadband, and avoidance of VOIP regulation.

The quarterly earnings season is back upon us, with results from Motorola, Lucent, IBM, Juniper, Sony-Ericsson, Amdocs and Scientific Atlanta for the vendor side, while ATT, AllTel, MobileOne, VSNL and Bahrain Telecom filled the obligation for the operator side.

In general, vendors are doing well, with sales increase above +5%, with mobile phone makers and data companies reporting growth respectively above +25% and +20%. Except Lucent (-50%), vendors posted rosy earnings rising 25% on average. It is likely those results constitute a good indication of the telecom downturn end, and should be confirmed by next week results.

Operators’ results are much more mixed. Revenues are growing in the low single-digit and earnings growth (except ATT and VSNL) is about 9% on average. The sample, however, do not include any heavyweight operator, except ATT.

The story will continue for two next weeks with announcements from main operators and many large vendors.