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Lucent Profits Down 32% in First Quarter

5:30 am on April 26, 2006 | Category: Business, Corporate, Wireless Technology

U.S.-based telecom equipment maker, Lucent Technologies revealed yesterday that its first quarter earnings were down 32% compared to the same period last year.

The company generated profits of $181 million, or $0.04/share, down from $267 million, or $0.02/share in the first quarter of 2005.

Total revenue worked out to $2.14 billion, a drop of 8.4% from the $2.34 billion in first quarter sales last year. This wasnâ€™t a result of the U.S. market, where sales grew by a healthy 11%, but due to delays in the construction of 3G networks in India and China, due to licensing problems.

“The ramp up in spending is happening more slowly than we anticipated,” Lucent Chairwoman and CEO, Patricia Russo said in a recent conference call, telling analysts that the “degree of decline is greater than anticipated.”

In the near future, it will be up to French telecom hardware giant, Alcatel, to help the company deal with these issues. Alcatel agreed earlier this month to acquire Lucent at a cost of $13.4 billion.

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