Telco recession brings the house down at Casa Systems

Axyom is all about cloud native 5G core software and RAN which, circumstances being different, would be a promising area of business. Acquisitive Lumine Group, which owns a bunch of telecoms-related companies, apparently agrees and is taking advantage of this fire-sale, which is being facilitated by Casa filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. We don’t know what Lumine expects to pay but Vecima has made a stalking horse bid of $20 million for the cable stuff.

“Like many in our sector, Casa has experienced a significant decline in revenue and profits due in large part to industry-wide downward capital investment and procurement trends in the cable and telco markets,” said Michael Glickman, Casa CEO. “We also have incurred significant investments to bring our 5G Mobile Core and RAN products to market. We believe the sales of our businesses through a Chapter 11 process will maximize value, preserve jobs and minimize disruption for our customers.”

“Casa Systems’ Axyom Cloud Native 5G Core Software & RAN product suite and teams will be a welcomed addition to our signalling and security software portfolio within Lumine Group,” said Tony Garcia, Group President at Lumine. “In line with Lumine Group’s approach to operating companies autonomously, this business unit will be launched under its own brand identity and expanded heritage product name, to clearly distinguish its product offerings and serve the global 5G cloud native core and access markets.”

Vecima is keeping quiet, presumably because it could still be out-bid. There is one other bit of Casa that has yet to find a buyer called NetComm, which it has apparently being trying to flog for a year to no avail. NetComm commenced voluntary administration proceedings under Australian law on March 11, 2024 and is not included in the US Chapter 11 process.

Casa is far from the only vendor to feel the pinch following the decision by US operators to stop spending on kit until someone figures out what the point of 5G is. Ericsson is especially exposed to the North American market and is suffering accordingly, while Nokia isn’t doing a whole lot better. While this is sad news for Casa, hopefully its business units and employees will find secure and prosperous new homes.