Ericsson Declines BSNL Bidding – Analyst Blog

LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (ERIC) has declined to bid for the $451 million telecommunication equipment supply contract floated by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), a Government of India company.

 

BSNL has mandated that bidders submit source codes to an escrow after the Indian government made it compulsory for equipment suppliers to submit software and hardware codes related to the products they will supply. This requirement comes amid concerns that imported equipment could be laced with spying technology.

 

Rivals Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture of Nokia (NOK) and Siemens (SI), Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. have also bid for BSNL’s project after complying with the source code requirement.

 

As a technology and market leader in wireless equipment (based on the GSM standard), Ericsson stands to benefit from the continued growth of the wireless industry, especially in the emerging markets. GSM-based network expansions in the emerging markets (including Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and China) are expected to drive moderate revenue growth over the next several years.

 

Having established partnerships with local companies and having set up R&D centers in numerous locations, Ericsson is well positioned to win additional network expansion contracts in Asia over the next couple of years. In addition, Ericsson has been winning more than its share of 3G contracts, including a contract to provide High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology to Cingular Wireless (the largest wireless carrier in the U.S.).

 

However, we expect the continued consolidation in the telecom industry to hamper growth and squeeze margins over the long term as competitors who cannot keep up with the technology will begin to cut prices to win business. Going forward, “catch-up” capital spending by the wireless carriers is likely to be replaced by lower-margin 3G equipment roll-outs and network builds in price-sensitive emerging markets. In this environment, Ericsson finds it prudent to plan for flattish development in the global mobile infrastructure market and good growth in the professional services market.

 

Risk factors include the potential negative effects of the continued uncertainty in the financial markets and the weak economic business environment on operators’ willingness to invest in network development. Another risk factor involves uncertainty regarding the financial stability of the suppliers due to a lack of borrowing facilities, or reduced consumer telecom spending, or increased pressure on Ericsson to provide financing.

 

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, LM Ericsson Telephone Company is a multinational company engaged in manufacturing and selling wireless infrastructure equipment to the telecom sector. It is a total network solutions provider, serving wireless and wireline operators, enterprises and consumers. The company is primarily a supplier of global systems for mobile communications (GSM)-based equipment, and looks to benefit from the next generation systems as more broadband content is being streamed to mobile devices, prompting network providers to upgrade their networks.

 

We currently maintain our Neutral recommendation on Ericsson for the long term, with a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold recommendation) over the next one-to-three months.