Is There an Alvarion/France Telecom Deal on the Horizon?

Globes is reporting that fixed mobile and WiMAX player, Alvarion (Nasdaq: ALVR) may be close to a large deal with France Telecom (FTE). Globes said that in a recent conference call, CEO Zvi Friedman had alluded to the fact that the company expected to win large contracts in the coming year worth more than $20 million altogether.

Aaron Katsman recently wrote about Alvarion’s ability to compete in a market soon to be dominated by large telecom equipment providers and carriers. When researching Alvarion, Katsman feels that have what it takes to compete with Motorola (MOT), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), and Nortel (NT) — all companies that “have the global mass needed to squeeze out Alvarion.”

Where Alvarion has an edge — in fact, where many smaller Israeli companies have an edge — is in selling into emerging markets. Big players go after larger markets first before they begin to think about competing in smaller locales. Alvarion finished the 3rd quarter with 200 commercial deployments, up from about 170 at the end of Q2.

As Katsman aptly put it, "It sure sounds to me that they are competing just fine.”

Disclosure: The author's fund has a position in ALVR, but he holds no position in any other stock mentioned, as of December 5, 2007.

ALVR vs. FTE 1-yr chart: