Finally, a glass of champagne.
Nortel Networks toasted its fourth quarter with a result that matched market expectations and a robust promise for the future.
Nortel, a leader in communications equipment for wireless networks, switching, transmission and access, reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $825 million, or 26 cents per share, on revenues of $8.8 billion against $607 million, or 21 cents per share, on sales of $6.6 billion, the previous year.
“We are extremely pleased with our strong growth in optical Internet, wireless Internet, and core IP networking. Overall, the fourth quarter capped a year of exceptional growth,” said John Roth, president and chief executive officer of Nortel Networks.
The news is refreshing in the aftermath of stock-market jitters in the past few weeks, especially with Motorola Inc.’s cheerless fourth-quarter report and Nokia Corp.’s claims of reduced handset sales.
However, Nortel reported a net loss of $1.41 billion, or 46 percent per share, including acquisition charges and one-time gains.
The company said it recorded increased revenues by 34 percent and net earnings of $2.31 billion, or 74 cents per share on revenues of $30.3 billion against $1.4 billion, or 52 cents per share, on revenues of $21.3 billion.
Including acquisition and other one-item costs and gains, it reported a net loss of $3.5 billion, or $1.17 per share.
With its present rosy picture, the company anticipates revenues and earnings to leap by 30 percent, which is at the conservative end of previous estimates of between 30 percent and 35 percent.
The company, which invaded the wireless Internet space with its so-called `wings of light’ initiatives that embodied wireless, optical and IP technologies, has had a decent year riding on the misfortunes of some of its competitors, including Lucent Technologies Inc.
“We established ourselves as a global leader in the wireless Internet market, ranking No. 2 in third-generation wireless contract awards over the last 18 months, according to Merrill Lynch,” said Roth, citing contract announcements with BT Cellnet in the United Kingdom, Airtel and Xfera in Spain and T-Mobile in Germany.
A Merrill Lynch report titled: “Wireless Equipment: The Wireless scorecards,” said Nortel has won more market share than any of its competitors during nearly three years, with 20-percent share of the global market as of Nov. 30-a 7-percent increase since Merrill Lynch started tracking wireless equipment contracts in March 1998.
The Merrill Lynch report indicated that of all equipment vendors, only L.M. Ericsson has a larger share and only Ericsson and Nortel have gained share during the same 33-month time frame.
In North America, Nortel stands above the competition in the wireless equipment market with a 30-percent share. It also holds a 45-percent share of the global CDMA market in the past 18-month period, according to Merrill Lynch.
Herschel Shosteck Associates has ranked Nortel No. 1 in wireless Internet infrastructure, while the Yankee Group has also picked the company as No. 1 in its next-generation wireless Internet architecture strategy.
