Tellabs’ humble happiness

DALLAS--The industry may be in a state of flux, but Tellabs doesn’t appear too unhappy with its current conditions. For a company that was once poked and prodded over its lack of sales to the bustling CLEC market, Tellabs officials are now very happy with their hindsight.

“We knew that business model was flawed and that’s one of the reasons we didn’t spend a lot of energy chasing it,” said Stephen McCarthy, senior vice president of optical networking at Tellabs.

That strategy indeed proved fruitful for Tellabs, as it held tight to the not so fast moving but now highly desirable RBOC accounts. And now, although the overall pie has shrunk, the Tellabs market share has gone up. Additionally, Tellabs significant cash reserves has the company on much stronger footing compared to many of larger competitors facing heavy debt loads.

That said, McCarthy acknowledged the industry isn’t healthy yet largely due to the fact that the industry still carries so much debt.

And as for National Fiber Optics Engineer Conference (NFOEC), McCarthy said, “this is the last gasp reflection of an industry that has yet to fully change.”

At the show, Tellabs announced enhancements to its 6500 transport switch that are targeted at helping providers improve operational efficiencies and reduce capital and operating costs by 50%.