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Tellabs to restructure and lose 530 people
01 February 2012
Poor fourth-quarter results pushes Tellabs to restructure, losing 530 employees
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Tellabs
results
LTE
WiMax
backhaul
NSN
4G
Tellabs has followed Nokia Siemens Networks by announcing a restructuring of the company activities and a focus on core product lines.In the wake of sharply falling revenues in the fourth quarter of 2011, the company has suspended work on one element of its LTE product line and will make 530 employees — out of about 3,000 — redundant.
The revenue in the fourth quarter was $317 million, a decline of 22% on the $410 million sales it recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company recorded a $5 million loss on the quarter.
Rob Pullen, the CEO and president, said: “In a climate of economic uncertainty, Tellabs needs to align expenses with revenue. Unfortunately, our restructuring will affect about 530 people.”
The company will “stop new development work on the Tellabs SmartCore 9100 LTE product, while continuing to support Tellabs SmartCore 9100 WiMax customers”, Pullen added.
However, in a clarification given to Global Telecoms Business, CTO Vikram Saksena said that the company was continuing most of its LTE-based development.
“Tellabs hauls traffic in LTE networks and is working on multiple LTE trials today,” said Saksena. “Our future Tellabs 9200 will add intelligence to create smart mobile backhaul networks. Our new Tellabs 8609 and 8611 offer a high-density, low-cost ethernet product to lower the cost per bit in mobile backhaul.”
Pullen said that work will continue on its mobile backhaul and packet optical products and its professional services. Restructuring will cost about $107 million, mainly in the first quarter of 2012, the company said.
“About 150 mobile operators around the world have chosen Tellabs mobile backhaul solutions,” said Saksena. GTB
Further reading from Global Telecoms Business:
Smart networks 'deliver most' as data pressure increases 19 Dec 2011
NSN to lose 23% of staff in restructuring 23 Nov 2011
More speed, less haste for LTE deployment 28 Jun 2010
Interview: Rob Pullen of Tellabs 22 Jan 2010