Nokia, CommScope, Cisco, others raise equipment prices
Vendors including Nokia, Cisco, CommScope, Ciena and Cambium are among the companies signaling that they are hiking prices for their telecom equipment due to supply-chain troubles, inflation and other factors.
“Following twenty years of average macro basestation price declines in the 5% to 10% range, we are now modeling RAN [radio access network] prices to increase, reflecting a wide range of factors,” Stefan Pongratz, an analyst at research and consulting firm Dell’Oro Group, wrote in response to questions from Light Reading. “In addition to the changing vendor landscape and regional aspects coming into play with China’s overall share expected to decline going forward, we have also assumed there will be some COGS [cost of goods sold] inflation due to supply-demand mismatches, though the ability for everyone to pass this on [to their customers] remains limited.”
Nokia and Ericsson – the two big Nordic vendors of 5G equipment – appear to be conducting similar price hikes. Ericsson officials mostly skimmed over questions on the topic during the company’s recent quarterly earnings call. But the financial analysts at Raymond James recently reported extensively on Nokia’s efforts to raise prices.
“Nokia will not raise prices across its entire portfolio, but instead target specific opportunities,” the analysts wrote of their meeting with Nokia officials at the recent MWC trade show in Barcelona, Spain. “Its prior 2022 operating margin forecast of 11%-13.5% incorporates this pricing strategy, along with its assessment on input cost changes.”
The analysts continued: “When it comes to mobility, we doubt Nokia has much opportunity to hike prices in part because many deals operate with multiyear contracts, and because of competition. However, in other areas where Nokia has market leadership, such as fixed access, it might have more opportunity. In areas like routing, competitors have raised prices, which better enables Nokia to do the same. Finally, with new deals, Nokia will incorporate higher prices to offset increased costs.”