Ericsson Smoking Peers in 4G Race
STOCKHOLM, (
) -- The race to 4G is on, and
Ericsson
(ERIC) - Get Report
continues to sweep the field with wireless upgrade contracts.
Regional telco
MetroPCS
(PCS)
said Tuesday that it picked Ericsson as its long-term evolution, or LTE, network equipment supplier. The latest Ericsson win is another setback for gear peers
Alcatel-Lucent
(ALU)
and
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Report
Siemens
(SI) - Get Report
, which have fallen to the back of the pack.
"Ericsson's product timing and equipment pricing all went right for them," says Telecom Pragmatics analyst Sam Greenholtz.
Earlier this year, Ericsson was named the primary supplier to
Verizon's
(VZ) - Get Report
4G LTE upgrade plan, an early and large wireless overhaul that is expected to be online in some cities as early as the end of this year.
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
is already
as its key supplier for its planned LTE project,
Telco spending cuts amid the financial crisis have squeezed the entire tech equipment sector particularly vendors including
Juniper
(JNPR) - Get Report
,
Ciena
(CIEN) - Get Report
and even
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Report
.
While Ericsson, the No.1 wireless networking supplier, was among the players that felt the pinch, unlike Alcatel Lucent, its stability was never in question. Greenholtz says that helped Ericsson's chances as phone companies looked out years ahead for a reliable supply partner.
The stocks tell a similar story. Ericsson shares have now recovered to pre-Lehman collapse levels, while Alcatel Lucent is still down about 18% in the past year.
--
Written by Scott Moritz in New York
.
