Subject: November Telecom Newsletter

From: "TONEX Technologies Inc." <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 22:50:34 -0800

November Telecom Newsletter - Brought to You by TONEX Technologies Inc.

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Telecom Employment News
Lucent Technologies Inc said Tuesday it planned to eliminate about 1,500 jobs from its U.S. operations, mainly through buyouts offered to technicians. 

The company will also be cutting 280 jobs by closing two centers that handle billing and ordering services to large customers. 

The company now has systems in place that allow for remote diagnosis of problems as well as repairs. Lucent is also getting out of the business of installing wiring in buildings.

CDMA Update
Qualcomm Inc posted fourth quarter earnings that beat expectations, citing a booming market for its mobile phone technology. 

The company was expected to earn 88 cents per share.  Revenues rose a year-on-year 14 percent to nearly $1.1 billion. 

Qualcomm said the rise in profits was due to a growing market for its code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless telephone technology, which is being incorporated into many next-generation mobile phone networks. 

Qualcomm also said it had trimmed fourth quarter expenses, including those on research and development, selling and marketing and general operations to 17 percent of revenues from 24 percent. 

The company was looking ahead to wireless Internet and data service, rolling out 64-kilobit-per-second service in Japan and Korea and demonstrating technology enabling a superfast speed of 2 megabits per second. The fastest PC dial-up modems run at 56.6 kilobits per second. 

Router Merger News

Cisco Systems Inc. already the dominant IP router vendor, is about to form a new division called the Optical Transport Group (OTG). The group will include employees from three optical companies acquired by Cisco: Cerent Corp., a manufacturer of optical add-drop multiplexers; Monterey Networks Inc., which is developing all-optical cross-connects; and Pipelinks Inc., a vendor of Sonet/SDH routers that groom access traffic for transport over network backbones. 

Alcatel announced at Telecom 99 that it is adding to its already considerable investments in optical networking. When an expanded facility is completed next summer, it will have more than 120,000 square feet of manufacturing space, Alcatel said. 

Also, as previously reported, Alcatel is spending $80 million to purchase two ships for laying undersea cable, adding to its existing ship fleet. The fleet will allow Alcatel to take further advantage of the huge demand for cabling.