Tellabs has broadly been viewed as leading the market for broadband passive optical network access gear, but its edge may be fading, according to Jeffries and Company analyst George Notter. Several industry observers predicted the BPON slide for Tellabs after Verizon Communications said it would move to gigabit PON gear this year (The telco named Tellabs as a secondary GPON vendor to primary supplier Alcatel-Lucent). However, Notter says in a Light Reading story that the slide could be more precipitous than first thought. Other industry watchers say that isn't the case, but that Tellabs still needs to review its broadband access strategy, in light of waning business at Verizon and the effect that the AT&T acquisition of BellSouth had on Tellabs, which had been a key vendor partner of the Atlanta-based former Bell company.
Meanwhile, a broadband access resale partnership that Tellabs had struck with smaller vendor Occam Networks appears ready to expire this month without interest in renewal. Telephony reports that Occam didn't gain much from having a larger partner with Tier 1 telco connections. Occam itself has experienced financial missteps in the last year, but recently won a piece of the FairPoint Communications broadband network expansion, a build-out that looks to be on very solid ground as FairPoint nears the closing of its acquisition of former Verizon Communications landline properties in New England.
For more:
- see this story about BPON at Light Reading
- read this piece about the Occam partnership at Telephony
Related article:
- Tellabs announced Rob Pullen as its new CEO just last month