Jay,
Thanks for posting the CC Number. I'd tried through the net but it was garbled.
I'd like to touch on a few of your points.
Rakib, with his broken English and resultant repeated search for words and form, sounded happier and more confident than I'd ever heard him sound before. I've always thought it a bit of a kick listening to folks struggle with English, and he does a good job all in all- but it does make me grin just listening.
Jay, you said there was no wrap-up. That is simply FALSE. Perhaps you lost your connection- as while the moderator clearly mistakenly offered that the CFO would give it, Rakib was in fact the one who did. Again, there indeed was a fluid and fine wrap-up.
I don't know what you are talking about when you say questions were cut off in mid sentence...save if you mean the reference of a questioner who believed the CFO had been cut-off once- as I recall it. The voice activated circuits obviously used do make things sound choppy.
Jay, the "major strategic wins" in Asia and the question of resulting near-term sales question was handled quickly in a thorough and honest manner. The lack of even months worth of history in the Asian region itself with which to base any predictions was pointed out and he offered us to reasonably expect a similar positive path for the future of revenue streams in the region as was the case with prior regions after the start-up phase(i.e. mostly initial stage head-end sales vs. later higher margin modem sales). And I believe Japan was singled out as being further along than the Hong Kong, Korea, and China deployments.
As for Telegate, I believe he pointed positively to future product development and announcements of same. He pointed to coming announcements of products resulting from combinations of acquired tech.- advancement of the cherrypicker product being singled out. Very positive.
He was badgered- to my way of thinking- with the same question concerning the Cablelabs letter more than once after his answer was already known- quite rude of the questioners IMO- and finally this resulted in him achieving his most most gleeful and upbeat moment of the call(he laughed/giggled) when saying his customers have access to the complete story of correspondence on the issue and feel it's humorous that people single out a single bit of information- and offer to him that they suspect short interests are behind the furor. It was interesting that one questioner on this subject was singled out by another as definitely NOT representing his firm.
Commenting on S-CDMA, they told of their plan to produce the DOCSIS 1.1 compatible modems with advanced phy S-CDMA/TDMA later this year- and offered that Cablelabs has yet to begin the certification process for 1.1 with TDMA itself. But TERN intends to submit with a system of their own design offering 1.1 compatibility. I would note that TERN's track record for getting certifications is good, including getting S-CDMA itself approved for use by @Home. A questioner pointed to the existence of some Cablelabs personnel now working for TERN, and Rakib allowed that these guys and TERN's customers all believe S-CDMA will be good for the industry. Also, an as yet unnamed "top" potential U.S. customer coming online soon was alluded to by a questioner, and Rakib acknowledged that an announcement is likely to be forthcoming soon. Very positive, IMO.
Jay, in the end of your report, you offer the quote "But lets move on." I'm not sure the thread cares who that reminds you of, I just want to make it clear to all that that quote came from a questioner, not management- as I feel that could easily be misconstrued in your post.
Summing up, management was upbeat and straightforward even in the face of badgering concerning the "so-called cease and desist" letter. I detected appropriate calm concerning this matter, insider sales matters, and all matters...characterized by the laughter I mentioned earlier. These guys have many irons in the fire and did a fine job, IMO.
Dan B |
