Euronews: Pressures Weigh on AlcaLu

It's squinting-at-tables time as Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA), Orange (NYSE: FTE) and Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) all reveal their latest results in today's regional roundup.

Alcatel-Lucent posted a 2.4 percent year-on-year increase in revenues in its second quarter, but this wasn't enough to allay wider worries about the market and prevent its share price tumbling. (See AlcaLu Grows But Pressures Weigh and AlcaLu Reports Q2.)

U.K. incumbent BT saw its revenues slide by 5 percent year-on-year to £4.7 billion (US$7.6 billion) in its fiscal first-quarter results, but, as Reuters reports, ruthless cost-cutting saw it still increase core profits by 3 percent, sending shares up 2.2 percent. (See BT Reports Fiscal Q1, BT Gets Bullish and BT Staff Vote on Strike .)

By contrast, rising costs at France Telecom saw the carrier record a 2.2 percent decline in first-half profits which, reports Bloomberg, took numbers to a level slightly below analysts' expectations. A 23 percent growth in mobile services in Africa and the Middle East helped steady the ship somewhat. (See France Telecom Reports H1, DT & FT Deepen Ties, Eurosqueeze? and France Telecom Battles Through 2010.)

A strong performance in Latin America was not enough to stop second-quarter profits tumbling 27 percent year-on-year at Spanish giant Telefónica, reports Bloomberg. Certainly, the carrier's domestic market doesn't look likely to perk up anytime soon -- not for nothing is it going to cut more than 6,000 jobs in Spain. (See Telefonica Reports H1, Euronews: Telefonica's Layoffs Bill Shock, Telefonica Takes $3.8B Hit and Euronews: Telefonica to Cut 6,500 Jobs.)

Much-complained-about U.K. broadband provider TalkTalk managed to lose 27,000 broadband customers (net) in its first quarter, while revenues fell 5 percent year-on-year to £423 million ($690 million), reports the Financial Times (subscription required). (See Ofcom Reveals UK's Least Favorite Telcos.)

Irish incumbent eir , which has been under pressure from its creditors of late, has announced a €100 million ($143 million) investment in fiber infrastructure for the delivery of "super-fast" broadband and associated goodies (such as IPTV) to an estimated 100,000 premises by summer 2012. This represents the first phase of a program that will eventually see 1 million homes and business in the Republic connected to fiber, if all goes to plan. (See Eircom Plans Fiber Rollout, Minister Applauds Eircom's FTTX Plan, Lenders to Lean on Eircom and Irish Operators Strike First Network Share Deal .)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading