Airspan Networks said that its four largest customers expanded their orders in the first quarter of 2022, amid continuing network rollout and “momentum” in Open RAN, private 5G networks and CBRS networks. However, Airspan executives said on the company’s quarterly call that the company is facing significant supply chain issues, with lead times for some semiconductor components as long as 40-52 weeks and first-quarter shipments also being impacted by port congestion and rolling shutdowns in China related to Covid-19.
Airspan execs said that the company did R&D work and circuit board iterations to design around those issues, which pushed most of its first-quarter shipments to the last month of the quarter—but that it is seeing more consistency on shipments in the second quarter.
Airspan’s revenues for the first quarter were $37.6 million, down 18% year-over-year and down 25% from the fourth quarter of 2021.
Airspan reported a net loss for the quarter of $29.7 million, a wider loss than the $13.5 million that it reported in the year-ago period and also an increase from its $19.6 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The company expects to see small cell deployments in CBRS and millimeter wave picking up in the second half of the year; Airspan is currently entering the field-trial phase for 5G CBRS small cells with a cable MSO. It’s also supporting Gogo’s 5G air-to-ground network that is in the process of being built; Airspan believes this will be the largest private network in the world.
Glenn Laxdal, president and COO of Airspan, said on the call that the company anticipates some lightening of supply chain challenges toward the end of the year and into 2023.
“We continue to expand and diversify our customer base,” Laxdal said in a statement. Our momentum in private network deployments continues as well, particularly in the U.S. and Europe. And Airspan was named lead RAN provider for our CBRS solutions with Mercury Broadband for their rural broadband network expansion, and have already deployed hundreds of radios, with more to come.”
Company executives told analysts that while roughly $10 million in shipments was pushed into the second quarter, that adds to an overall shippable backlog of more than $100 million.
Airspan has also instituted price increases that took effect immediately for small customers and will phase in for large customers as new or expanded orders are placed.
