In my area only DSL and Dish are available. All suggestions will be greatly appreciated. As far as I know wireless is unavailable as per the following. Thanks.
Chisy
By Margo McCall
Monday, February 5, 2001
Wireless Week
Over the past few years, a crop of broadband fixed-wireless vendors has been germinating new technologies, pushing steadily up from the earth by adding new products and customers, hoping to land a share of an equipment market forecast to grow to $7 billion by 2004.
But now, just as dozens of vendors are blossoming, a frost is alighting in the form of decreased carrier spending and a slowdown in network buildouts. Companies that planted their ideas early are likelier to weather a cooling economy than those still in the seedling stage. And indeed, even as some vendors fear a hard frost, others see a season of nothing but warm, sunny days.
Netro Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based supplier of point-to-multipoint equipment, now expects zero-percent revenue growth in the first quarter of 2001, largely as a result of its close relationship with troubled Lucent. While delivering fourth-quarter revenue of $22 million, up 186 percent over the same period last year, Netro CFO Sanjay Khare spoke of ''a difficult carrier financing climate.'' The company nonetheless was able to narrow its loss from $7.5 million, or 17 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 1999, to $2.5 million, or 5 cents per share, in the most recent quarter.
Triton Network Systems of Orlando, Fla., which sells point-to-consecutive-point technology, reported a loss that widened from $9.8 million in the last quarter of 1999 to $11.2 million in the last quarter of this year. The increased loss was largely the result of Advanced Radio Telecom–one of only four U.S broadband fixed-wireless carriers–delaying an order. Although Triton CEO Skip Speaks says he's optimistic about his company's prospects, he does acknowledge that he foresees ''some uncertainty in the market in the first half of 2001 due to the current state of debt and capital markets.''
Adaptive Broadband Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., delivered revenue of $8.4 million, compared with $2.2 million for the same quarter of last year and in line with its lowered expectations. But its losses widened dramatically. The provider of PMP solutions reported a loss of $62.6 million, or $1.66 per share, compared with a $6.3 million, or 20 cents per share, loss in the same quarter of last year. A large portion of the most recent loss stems from a sales dispute with customer Fuzion Wireless Communications.
Players close to or achieving profitability probably will be less vulnerable to a killing frost than those still working to reduce losses. P-Com Inc., a Campbell, Calif., maker of PTP, PMP and spread-spectrum wireless access systems, reported a profit of $225,000 last quarter, compared to a loss of $11.7 million, or 19 cents per share, in the same quarter of 1999. Sales were $63 million, up 33 percent from the $47.5 million generated in the fourth quarter of 1999.
Western Multiplex Corp., also of Sunnyvale, just recently turned the corner on profitability. The supplier of wireless solutions reported fourth-quarter revenue of $37.6 million, an increase of 141 percent over $15.6 million in revenue for the same quarter of 1999. But more importantly, the company earned $3.3 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with its loss of $1.1 million, or 2 cents per share, in the previous year.
Ceragon Networks, an Israeli company that went public last summer and just signed a global reselling agreement with Lucent, reported revenue of $12.3 million in the fourth quarter, up 416 percent over the $2.4 million realized in the same quarter of last year. The company's loss narrowed to $300,000, or 1 cent per share, compared with $1.7 million, or 32 cents per share in the same quarter of last year.
Established fixed-wireless companies such as 16-year-old DMC Stratex of San Jose, Calif., appear to be thriving in the current environment. DMC earned $12 million, or 16 cents per share, in its most recent quarter, compared with $3.4 million, or 5 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. It signed up a record $133.6 million in new orders in the quarter and shipped more than 13,000 microwave and millimeter-wave radios to more than 150 customers around the world.
Not every up-and-coming fixed wireless vendor fears an economic storm. Vyyo Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., which went public in April, doesn't expect to be profitable until 2002. The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $6.1 million, an 80 percent gain over the $1.2 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 1999. Its pro forma loss, however, widened from $2.7 million, or 17 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of last year to $5.6 million, or 15 cents per share, in the most recent quarter. Still, the company expects $60 million in revenue this year.
''The high growth anticipated in the broadband Internet access market gives us confidence in our financial plans for 2001,'' says CEO John O'Connell. |
