Nortel doubles Q2 earnings

Nortel Network more than doubled earnings in the second quarter as the Canadian supplier of telecommunications equipment benefited from higher sales of its enterprise and wireless gear.

Net income rose to US$45 million, or $.01 per share, in the quarter ending June 30 from $16 million, or flat earnings per share, in the same period a year ago, the company said Monday in a statement.

Net revenue was up 10 percent to $2.86 billion from $2.59 billion. The consensus expectation from financial analysts polled by Thomson First Call had been for net revenue of $2.693 billion.

Nortel is rebounding from a four-year slide in revenue as both carriers and businesses accelerate spending to upgrade their networks -- and from an accounting scandal that caused a management shakeup and forced the company to restate several quarters of financial results.

The Brampton, Ontario, manufacturer increased sales of wireless infrastructure, based on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology to $662 million, up 17 percent year-over-year or 24 percent over the previous quarter.

Enterprise network sales increased 26 percent from the year-ago period, or 33 percent sequentially, to $730 million.

For the full fiscal year, Nortel expects revenue to grow 10 percent.