Here is one that Newbridge will not be receiving:
Sprint Cancels Plan to Buy Cisco, Tellabs Equipment
(Update1)
Sprint Cancels Plan to Buy Cisco, Tellabs Equipment (Update1)
(Adds comments in last two paragraphs. Closes shares.)
Kansas City, Missouri, Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Sprint Corp.,
the No. 3 U.S. long-distance company, said it canceled a $500
million plan to update its phone network with equipment from
Cisco Systems Inc. and Tellabs Inc. in favor of rival suppliers.
The company now is considering new voice switches from
Lucent Technologies Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp., spokesman
Russ Robinson said. The decision to scrap the original plan was
made partly because Cisco, the No. 1 maker of Internet gear, was
late in developing a product that Sprint had ordered, he said.
Cisco wasn't immediately available to comment.
Sprint planned since 1996 to update its voice switches with
the same technology in its ION data network, and aimed to do most
of the work itself. Now, it's seeking a supplier that can provide
both the equipment and engineering services it needs. Until it
names that company, Sprint will buy more traditional switches
from Nortel to handle its growing voice traffic.
``It made sense to give up the project,' Robinson said.
``To deal with the growth, we've got to enhance our network.'
Contributing to Sprint's decision to scrap the original plan
was its focus on the $2 billion Integrated On-Demand Network, or
ION, which provides customers with multiple phone lines and high-
speed Internet access. Even so, building ION is taking longer
than Sprint would like.
``We've had to revise some schedules,' Robinson said.
``We'd like to be further along.'
Nortel and Cisco remain the main equipment suppliers for
ION, he said.
San Jose, California-based Cisco rose 3 15/16 to 92 7/16 on
the Nasdaq Stock Market. Tellabs fell 2 7/8 to 70 3/8 on Nasdaq,
while Sprint rose 1 9/16 to 72 9/16 on the New York Stock
Exchange.
Lucent, Nortel
Sprint, which agreed to be acquired by rival MCI WorldCom
Inc. for $129 billion last month, is evaluating Lucent's 7R/E
switch and Nortel's Succession product, Robinson said. They
combine features offered by Cisco and Tellabs, along with
software similar to the product Sprint planned to buy from
Telcordia Technologies Inc.
Sprint may consider using another product from Cisco,
Robinson said.
Lisle, Illinois-based Tellabs delivered its product, the
AN2100 switch, to Sprint on time and proved that it works,
Robinson said. Tellabs yesterday said it plans to continue making
the AN2100 and sell it to other customers.
Robinson said he doesn't know how much of the $500 million,
which would have been spent over three years, was earmarked for
equipment and software. He said Cisco, Tellabs and Morristown,
New Jersey-based Telcordia each would have received about the
same amount of revenue from the project. The rest would have been
spent on engineering.
By getting the equipment and services from a single company,
Sprint expects to slightly reduce the cost of building the
network, Robinson said. He said it's too early to know which
supplier the company will choose.
To handle the expected increase in voice traffic over the
next year, Sprint will install at least two or three Nortel DMS-
250 switches in its long-distance network, Robinson said.
``There may be more depending on what the projections for
voice are,' he said.
NYSE/AMEX delayed 20 min. NASDAQ delayed 15 min. |
