Nortel finally announced its Q2 numbers, and they came in strong, jumping 12.6% QoQ totalling $2.86 billion, ahead of Wall Street estimates between $2.67 and 2.70 billion.  Regionally, the numbers were strong in North America (US and Canada) but fairly flattish overseas. 

Enterprise revenues jumped considerably (33% QoQ), due to the recognition of previously deferred revenues (~$100 million) related to specific PBX software upgrades in the U.S. and Europe.  However, no mention of the much anticipated MPE9000 IP router (also known as the Neptune), and the book-to-bill ratio came a bit under what was expected (0.84).  More importantly, almost all the Nortel enterprise voice (PBX/IP PBX) competitors had great quarters: Cisco, Avaya, Mitel, Inter-Tel and Aastra.

On the wireless side, CDMA was the bright spot, with performance being driven by EV-DO sales to players such as Bell Canada, Sprint and Verizon.  However, the GSM revenues were lower, due to the completion of a major contract in Europe and lower than anticipated sales to BSNL.  Finally, wireline saw declines in long-haul optical and traditional circuit switching for voice and ATM switches for data, although these drops were compensated by higher sales in VoIP switches and metro optical gear.  It would have been nice to see more detail on the Verizon Class5 switch replacement project.

All in all, a good quarter, considering the recent turmoil, but there is $1.3 billion worth of debt coming due in early 2006, and more visibility on the company's strategy will be helpful for most investors.  Despite the jump in revenues, Nortel turned in an EPS of 1 penny, so cost cutting will need to continue.