Alcatel-Lucent's Losses Continue

For the fifth quarter running, Alcatel-Lucent reported a net loss: during the first quarter of 2008, it increased to €181 million.

The loss is larger than analysts had anticipated, and larger than during the same period last year, when the company reported a net loss of €8 million (US$12.5 million).

Sales also declined, by 0.5 percent, to €3.86 billion for the quarter.

The results leave a distinct feeling of deja vu: like its competitor Ericsson, which reported first-quarter results last week, Alcatel-Lucent's outlook for the future is bleaker than previously stated, and the weak dollar is causing it some major problems.

Alcatel-Lucent now expects the telecommunications market to remain flat in 2008, compared to its previous forecast of flat to slightly up.

The company saw revenue from carrier customers decrease by 4.9 percent year on year to €2.7 billion, in part due to the ongoing decline in new subscribers to copper-based broadband access services.

At the same time revenue for the enterprise segment increased by 3 percent, and revenue from services rose 8.3 percent. In the services segment, revenues from network integration and professional services grew strongly, driven by IPTV, IP transformation and applications-integration projects, the company said.