|
Today's report from Web Editor
Susan Rush
• Lucent Lowers Q4 Profits; Stock Sinks
• Chip Rivals Settle Suits
• Pioneer Sues Gemstar-TV Guide
• U.K. 'Net Access Auction Is A Dud
• Broadband Briefs
Lucent Lowers Q4 Profits; Stock Sinks Despite
the fact that Lucent Technologies has
been working feverishly as of late to reinvent itself amidst falling
profits, the communications giant suffered another blow -- it was forced to
lower its previously reported fourth quarter revenues by 2 cents. Wall
Street frowned on the news, causing Lucent's stock to fall 13.7 percent to
$18.06 during early morning trading. This dip is nearly $2 below its 52-week
low.
In October, Lucent reported fourth quarter revenues of $9.4
billion, or 18 cents a share, but after discovering a "revenue
recognition issue," the company reduced its revenue by $125 million, or
2 cents a share.
"We wanted to make this public as soon as we discovered
the issue," said Henry Schacht, Lucent's chairman and CEO in a prepared
statement. "I have asked our outside auditor and our outside counsel to
assist us in doing a complete review of this and any related issues."
Until the review is completed, the company said it would have no further
comment. In light of the recent developments, Lucent also withdrew its
forecast for the first fiscal quarter of 2001.
Related Stories:
Lucent
Drops, But Beats Expectations, BroadbandWeek Direct, 10/24/00
Lucent Boots
McGinn, BroadbandWeek Direct, 10/23/00
Chip Rivals Settle Suits
The battle is over; Broadcom
Corp. and Intel Corp. issue a
cease-fire after settling all pending anti-trust claims against each other.
The high-speed communications chipmakers have been entangled in legal
battles since March when Intel tried to block three former employees from
joining Broadcom and potentially divulging trade secrets by filing a
complaint with the California Superior Court.
In August, Intel filed a complaint with the U.S.
District Court of Delaware against Broadcom, alleging that Broadcom
infringed "nearly every aspect of [Intel's] business." Broadcom responded
in turn by asking a California court to block Intel from shipping some of
its networking chips. Broadcom alleged Intel stole its trade secrets
relating to Gigabit Ethernet networking.
In a joint statement, the companies
"expressed satisfaction with the terms of the settlement
agreement." Terms of the deal remain confidential.
Related Stories:
The
Broadcom/Intel Battle Heats Up, BroadbandWeek Direct, 9/26/00
Chip
Giants Intel, Broadcom Trade Barbs Over Patents, Multichannel News,
9/11/00
Pioneer Sues Gemstar-TV Guide
It looks like the tables have been turned on
Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. The interactive programming guide
software developer is being sued by Pioneer
Digital Technologies for allegedly competing unfairly in the state
of California. Gemstar could not be reached for comment before deadline.
The digital set-top box provider claims that
Gemstar is trying to squash competition in the state by "systematically
eliminating competition and entering into agreements with others to restrain
trade" in the market for TV programming technology, according to a Bloomberg
News report. Gemstar has filed several patent infringement lawsuits
against competitors, including EchoStar
Communications Corp., TiVo Inc. and
recently settled a similar suit with Motorola for $200 million.
Two Gemstar subsidiaries, StarSight Telecast and
Gemstar Development, were also named as defendants in the suit filed in the Los
Angeles Superior Court.
Related Stories:
Motorola
Interacts With Gemstar, BroadbandWeek Direct, 10/17/00
Gemstar
Claims Infringement, BroadbandWeek Direct, 10/24/00
U.K. 'Net Access Auction Is A Dud Will
the digital divide crack through the United Kingdom? Possibly, especially
after the poor results of its recent broadband fixed wireless Internet
auction. The sale only brought in $54 million, a far cry from the expected
$1.4 billion. Of the 42 available licenses, a mere 16 were sold, leaving
many industry observers wondering if only highly populated areas will
benefit from high-speed Internet access.
Patricia Hewitt, the U.K.'s Minister for e-commerce and Small
Business, has requested an auction report be conducted to help the
Department of Trade and Industry to better prepare for future spectrum
allocations.
Six telecom companies captured licenses covering Greater
London, the West Midlands, the North West, Yorkshire, the North East,
Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Related Story:
One
Size Won't Fit All, Broadband Week, 9/00
Broadband Briefs:
-
Concurrent Computer Corp.'s
video-on-demand technology enables Oceanic Cable to offer time-shifted
pay-per-view events to its subscribers. Selected events, like the November 11
Lennox Lewis/David Tua bout, are stored in Concurrent's MediaHawk video servers
enabling viewers to watch PPV events at their convenience.
-
Alliance Fiber Optic Products
Inc. announces an initial public offering of 4.5 million of its shares at
$11.00 per share. The IPO is being managed by Merrill Lynch & Co., U.S.
Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Wit SoundView and SG Cowen.
-
LSI Logic Corp. forms two
new communications organizations to focus on broadband communications markets
and global data networking.
-
iDigi Access LLC secures several
client partnerships to aid in the deployment its broadband wireless Internet
service in Florida, Texas and South Carolina.
-
Rhythms NetConnections Inc.
expands its DSL services into Kansas City, Mo. The company now offers service in
60 markets nationwide.
-
SolidStreaming and AnyDevice
Inc. team to deliver streaming video, audio and data to wireless
Internet-enabled devices, including cell phones and personal digital assistants.
-
NetActive wins the
"Most Innovative Broadband Content Service" award for its NetActive
Reach product at the Broadband Content Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
|
