Nortel Alvarion

Some more information on Nortel exiting Mobile WiMAX business can be found: unstrung, and here.

Nortel and Alvarion are comitted to their customers, but my question is: “Where is the money”?
If a customer already paid Nortel, how can Alvarion guarantee they are getting paid for the effort and equipment.

Alvarion's exposure to Nortel Bankruptcy

A week after Airspan published a warning , Alvarion is providing some information, financial and strategic impacts following Nortel’s bankruptcy.

  1. The strategic alliance and joint project are canceled
  2. Collection of payments for (1) are uncertain
  3. About $2.4 Million cannot be recognized for Q4, 2008.

Alvarion now expects a Q4 GAAP net loss of approximately ($4.9) million, or approximately ($0.08) per share, including a restructuring charge of approximately $3.4 million or $0.06 per share for the quarter, related to the cost reduction initiatives announced on December 8, 2008.

As for revenues:

“total revenues for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008, are expected to be approximately $70 million, at the low end of the Company’s revenue guidance of $70 to $78 million”

Alvarion stock (NASDAQ: ALVR) went down yesterday 5.57% Before this press release.

Airspan's exposure to Nortel Bankruptcy

Airspan has just released an update on Fourth Quarter and Nortel Exposure:

A preliminary review of fourth quarter 2008 results shows that total shipments in the fourth quarter
2008 amounted to approximately $19 million, of which WiMAX shipments during the quarter amounted to
$17 million. The Company expects to defer some revenue from these shipments during the normal
financial review process, which will impact the final fourth quarter and full year 2008 revenue
numbers.

And $2.7 Million exposure to Nortel:


In connection with Nortel’sJanuary 14th, 2009 bankruptcy announcement, Airspan has outstanding receivables with Nortel in the amount of approximately $2.7 million for products and services delivered and billed through the date of Nortel’s bankruptcy filing. Collection of these receivables is uncertain and will be subject to Nortel’s bankruptcy proceedings. Nortel has informed Airspan that it wishes to continue purchasing goods and services from the Company

I wish Alvarion (NASDAQ:ALVR) would be as transparent.

Open Range Communications Secures $367 Million for WiMAX deployment

GigaOM reports additional $100 Million for Rural WiMAX Operator “Open Range Communications”. The previous $267 Millions came the U.S. Deparment, trying to bring Broadband to Rural America.

Everyone follow Clear, but I feel this story is more interesting, as for every “Clear” we will see 3 or 4 smaller operators, doing business from Fixed/Nomadic WiMAX. It is also encouraging to hear the amount of money invested to this company, both from the U.S. government and private investments.

Not sure which vendor will supply the Base-Stations and CPEs, but I believe they will use Fixed WiMAX for enhanced rural coverage, thus Motorola and Samsung are out of the picture.

Wibro turns into White Elephant

An interesting article on Wibro from the Korea Times: Wibro turns into White Elephant

Now, just two-and-a-half years into deployment, WiBro, which is short for “wireless broadband,” is looking more and more like a monumental letdown everyday

Wibro is a Mobile WiMAX predecessor, initiated by the Korean Government to boost Mobile WiMAX investment in Korea, and give a “headstart” to Korean vendors.

If the home-made WiBro goes international, it will bring new opportunities for Korean high-tech firms in royalty payments and equipment sales, and for this to happen, the local market for the service needs to get bigger.

According to the article, KT had only 180,000 customers, while SK Telecom only 11,000. And some more number:

Considering that KT and SK Telecom used 790 and 600 billion won, respectively, to build their WiBro networks and each needs to spend between 200 and 400 billion won more to expand coverage, a 300 billion won-plus market after seven years hardly qualifies as a consolation prize.

In a recent move, the Korean policymakers enabled operators to provide VoIP over WiBro, which is not likely to change the reality: WiBro has Failed