Teleste hit by low demand in Europe, looks to North America

Esa Harju and Teleste

Broadband network supplier Teleste saw sales decline in the first quarter, with EBITDA rising, and the company expects a tough second quarter as European equipment sales remain muted.

Teleste sales reached €36.6 million, down 19.3% for the quarter, Adjusted EBITDA was up 4.3% to €3.1 million on cost savings.

Despite the improvement in profitability for the Finnish tech outfit, CEO Esa Harju warned that “the outlook for the whole year is still overshadowed by market uncertainty” and said the company expected Q2 to be “difficult”.

Harju said that the decline in sales in the broadband networks business was due to “very low demand in the European market”, which he said he expected to remain “uncertain” for the rest of the year, with demand improving, at the earliest, by the second half.

Teleste is more hopeful about prospects for sales in North America.

While Teleste has a market lead with 1.8GHz ICON smart amplifiers, designed for the North American market, which have now reached general availability status and the first field deployments with four North American operators confirming smart amplifier orders, the North American business’s overall share of Teleste’s volume will still be small this year.