David Romars's Page

Canadian start-up operator Globalive is expected to appeal a ruling this week that found it in violation of federal ownership rules, reports Canada's Globe & Mail newspaper. In a statement, Globalive chairman Anthony Lacavera described the ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) as "a bad day for Canadians and wireless competition in Canada." However, he insisted that the verdict had only delayed its launch and - according to sources - the company is n… Continue

Motorola's unexpected return to profitability in the third quarter may hide continuing troubles at its mobile devices division, but the company is confident the unit is on the road to recovery now that it has begun to unveil its new line up of Android-based smartphones. Overall, the US group reported Q3 earnings of US$12 million despite a 27 percent fall in total revenue to US$5.45 billion. However, it shipped only 13.6 million devices in the three months to the end of September, down 46 percent… Continue

Alcatel-Lucent's stock fell 5.8 percent in morning trading today as the network equipment vendor racked up wider third-quarter losses and saw revenues slide 9.3 percent year-on-year. The company - undergoing a restructuring by CEO Ben Verwaayen (pictured) following years of poor performance after a complicated 2006 transatlantic merger - reported a net loss of EUR182 million, compared to a loss of EUR40 million a year earlier. It posted an operating loss of EUR11 million on revenues of EUR3.69 b… Continue

Bharti Airtel - India's largest mobile operator - reported weaker than expected profit for its latest quarter and its share price fell in response to comments that it is feeling the effects of increasing competition in the world's second-largest mobile market. Bharti reported net profit for its fiscal second-quarter (ended 30 September) of INR23.21 billion (US$495 million), up 31 percent compared to a year ago, but below analysts' forecasts of around INR24 billion, according to Associated Press.… Continue

Handset shipments suffered another annual decline in the third quarter but are forecast to rebound in the key final quarter of the year, according to two new analyst reports published this week. Strategy Analytics estimates that global handset shipments reached 291 million units in 3Q09, down 4 percent from 304 million units a year earlier. Separate data from IDC suggested similar trends; the firm said that shipments totalled 287.1 million units worldwide in 3Q09, down 6 percent from a year earl… Continue