Telecom Stock Roundup: Ericsson-Liberty Global Deal, AT&T's 5G Deployment And More

Telecom stocks have been in a downtrend for the past five trading days, a result of the uncertainty hovering over trade with Canada and looming threats of tariff imposition on $200 billion worth of goods imported from China. To add to these woes, the U.S. trade deficit jumped the most in three years.

Regarding company-specific news, strategic deals, technological collaborations and deployment of 5G technology took the center stage over the past five trading days.

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Ericsson ERIC announced that it has inked a deal with Liberty Global, the world's largest international TV and broadband company, to help it consolidate its European fixed network services and thereby optimize operations.

Ericsson has undertaken definite steps to consolidate Liberty Global's operations in six European countries, namely the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and Germany. The new contract reinforces the existing business relationship that is centered on the Managed Services contract for mobile networks and fixed field services in Poland, Hungary and Austria.

AT&T Inc. T announced that Indianapolis would be seventh 5G city in its deployment of the network, adding to the previously announced cities of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Raleigh and Waco.

The telecom giant has been laying the foundation for 5G in Indianapolis for some time now, as Indianapolis is one of the fastest growing tech hubs in the country and home to a variety of large and small businesses.

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ has announced that it is upgrading its Cat M network by adding voice capabilities for Internet-of-Things solutions. The company first launched the Cat M network in March 2017 to provide scale, coverage and security to customers looking for wireless access solutions for IoT. With the introduction of voice features, its nationwide Cat M network is able to support a broad base of IoT solutions with enhancements. 

Ciena Corporation CIEN reported better-than-expected results in third-quarter fiscal 2018. Non-GAAP net income was $74.3 million, 48 cents per share, compared with $56.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly total revenues increased 12.4 percent annually to $818.8 million, driven by continued growth in Asia-Pacific service providers and global webscale customers.

QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM, introduced Qualcomm aptX Adaptive, a next-generation audio codec. AptX Adaptive is designed to automatically adjust to the type of content consumed by consumers. This, in turn, helps in improving the audio quality apart from reducing latency in audio-visual content including videos and games. Combining superior audio quality, low-bit rate audio transmission and scalability, the innovative audio coding technology offers enhanced wireless listening experience for users in applications like mobile gaming, music and video.

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