Tellabs to drop LTE and lay-off 530 staff

BANGALORE, INDIA: In a major move, networking equipment maker Tellabs, who recorded a net loss of $5 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to that of last year's, announced that it will cut 530 people, and stop new development work on its LTE product. The company will however continue to support its WiMax customers.

”In a climate of economic uncertainty, Tellabs needs to align expenses with revenue,” said Rob Pullen, Tellabs CEO and president. “Unfortunately, our restructuring will affect about 530 people. We will reduce expense and stop new development work on the Tellabs SmartCore 9100 LTE product, while continuing to support Tellabs SmartCore 9100 WiMax customers.

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Tellabs said it will shut down its facilities in Petaluma, California; Vancouver, Canada; Bangalore, India and Karachi, Pakistan, reports Reuters.

This is seen as a part of the company's plans to restructure its business and recognize a pretax charge, substantially all of which is expected to be incurred in the first quarter of 2012, currently estimated at $107 million. Tellabs reported fourth-quarter revenue of $317 million.

“We’ll address customers’ needs through our next-generation portfolio of products and services for the smart mobile Internet, including Tellabs Mobile Backhaul Solution, Tellabs Packet Optical Solution and professional services such as Tellabs Insight Analytics Services.”