Earnings Labs

Cambium Networks Corporation (CMBM)

Q3 2020 Earnings Call· Thu, Nov 5, 2020

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Faith, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Cambium Networks Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Mr. Schuman, Senior Director of Investor & Industry Analyst Relations, you may begin your conference.

Peter Schuman

Analyst

Thank you, Faith. Welcome and thank you for joining us today for Cambium Networks' Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results Conference Call and welcome to all those joining by webcast. Atul Bhatnagar, our President and CEO; and Stephen Cumming, our CFO, are here for today's call. The financial results press release and CFO commentary referenced on this call are accessible on the Investor page of our website, and the press release has been submitted on Form 8-K with the SEC. A copy of today's prepared remarks will also be available on our Investor page at the conclusion of this call. As a reminder, today's remarks, including those made during Q&A, will contain forward-looking statements about the company's outlook and expected performance. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions. Risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially. Except as required by law, Cambium Networks does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this presentation, whether as a result of new information, future developments, to conform these statements to actual results or make changes in Cambium's expectations or otherwise. It is Cambium Networks' policy not to reiterate our financial outlook. We encourage listeners to review the full list of risk factors included in the safe harbor statement in today's financial results press release. We will also reference both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures and specifically note that all sequential and year-over-year comparisons reference non-GAAP numbers except where otherwise noted. A reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP is included in the appendix to today's financial results press release, which can be found on the Investor page of our website and in today's press release announcing our results. Turning to the agenda. Cambium Networks' President and CEO, Atul Bhatnagar, will provide the key investment highlights for the quarter; and Stephen Cumming, Cambium Networks' CFO, will provide a recap of the financial results for the third quarter 2020, and he will provide our financial outlook for the fourth quarter 2020. Our prepared remarks will be followed by a Q&A session. I'd now like to turn the call over to Atul.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · ROTH Capital

Thank you, Peter. Demand for broadband communications and infrastructure projects remain a priority throughout the world driven by work, learn and play from home. Fixed wireless broadband is a critically important networking fabric to connect our local communities and for people around the world. COVID and the new 5G standards are accelerating that trend as we are reaching new customers and entering new markets demanding higher performance. Cambium Networks is now at the start of the era of end-to-end wireless speeds equivalent to data fiber. Our multi-gigabit wireless fabric, which can be controlled from a single pane of glass, can deliver fiber's performance and reliability at a fraction of the cost. During Q4, we will have both our new Wi-Fi 6- and 60-gigahertz millimeter wave multi-gigabit solutions available to customers, followed by our 5G 28-gigahertz products during the first half of 2021. Millimeter wave solutions increased the serviceable available market, SAM, for Cambium as we enter urban markets with significant focus for the first time in the company's history, and wireless can now be extended to the edge of the network, where fiber could not go cost effectively. With wireless solutions now on par with the speed of fiber, wireless is the new fiber. Cambium's vision and foresight continues to include managing our technology portfolio with our cloud-based software, cnMaestro, our single pane of glass in the cloud. The third quarter's results provide further proof of improved financial performance and marked the return to sequential and year-over-year growth. Cambium's significant new product introductions over the next several quarters will provide a catalyst to our financial results for many quarters into the future. Turning to the results of the third quarter 2020. We achieved revenues of $73 million, above the high end of our August 11 outlook of between $64 million…

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · ROTH Capital

Thanks, Atul. Our record third quarter results reflect the increased demand for Cambium's high-quality fixed wireless and enterprise Wi-Fi products, the resilience of our partner community and strong demand for new Wi-Fi 6 products ahead of volume shipments during the fourth quarter of calendar 2020 and our 60-gigahertz products. Record revenues of $73 million for Q3 '20 came in above the high end of our initial outlook of $64 million to $67 million and our revised outlook of approximately $73 million released on October 12. Revenues increased by 17% quarter-over-quarter and were higher by 11% year-over-year from $65.7 million. We had the first quarter in the company's history to break the $17 million threshold and are now driving both sequential and year-over-year growth. On a sequential basis for Q3 '20, revenues were higher by $10.7 million or an increase of approximately 17%. The higher revenues were driven by our PMP products, which grew 7% quarter-over-quarter due to service providers scaling networks driven by requests for increased capacity and increased need for CBRS-compatible solutions. In our Point-to-Point product lines, revenues improved 43% sequentially due to higher demand for backhaul and federal products. As predicted, we had a strong recovery in enterprise Wi-Fi solutions, which grew by 30% quarter-over-quarter, with increased shipments of our Wi-Fi 6 products and improved field deployments of Wi-Fi products, particularly in EMEA. Looking at revenues by geography, North America represented 53% of company revenues compared to 52% during Q2 '20. North America had a record quarter with revenues growing 19% on a sequential basis driven by higher PMP, stronger PTP and increased Wi-Fi demand. EMEA, our second largest region, decreased 1% quarter-over-quarter and represented 28% of revenues during Q3 '20 and 33% of revenues during Q2 '20. The slight decrease quarter-over-quarter in EMEA primarily reflects softer PMP…

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · ROTH Capital

While we are very pleased with the third quarter results and improved outlook as we enter the fourth quarter, we will not rest on our past success, and we'll continue to strive to achieve our goal of long-term top line growth in the mid-teens and adjusted EBITDA in the upper teens as a percentage of revenues. The top line is achievable through the introduction of new gigabit wireless products such as enterprise Wi-Fi 6, 60-gigahertz and 28-gigahertz millimeter wave solutions for the 5G fixed wireless and the continued adoption of CBRS-compatible solutions. Our bottom line will benefit from increased scale in our business and continuing to judiciously manage our costs. Our balance sheet is healthy and continues to improve. We had another good quarter of cash generation, and we remain excellent stewards of capital. Cambium Networks is very well positioned as a gigabit wireless leader to win based on the superior value derived from our proven, high-performance, high-quality and affordable products, providing end-to-end wireless connectivity managed by our cloud-based cnMaestro solution and matching end-to-end speeds of fiber. Wireless is the new fiber. Cambium Networks remains excited to support the next round of the Connect America funding, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which is currently being evaluated by the FCC for committing $20.4 billion in funding over the next 10 years to bring high-speed broadband service to millions of unserved Americans. High-quality, resilient Cambium solutions stand to gain substantially from the RDOF initiative. Finally, I would like to thank our employees, partners and customers for the outstanding results and continued excellence during our journey in these unprecedented times. This concludes our prepared remarks. So with that, I would like to turn the call over to Faith and begin the Q&A session.

Operator

Operator

Your first question is from Scott Searle from ROTH Capital.

Scott Searle

Analyst · ROTH Capital

Very nice job, guys and despite the fact that it's very early days for the new product portfolio. So very nice to see the results there and the outlook. If I could specifically jump into the outlook of the $74 million to $78 million. Can you kind of take us through the thought process in terms of the sequential progression of each of the different product lines? In particular, Point-to-Point has historically been lumpy. Is this at more sustained levels in the current time? And also, kind of wondering, within 60 gigahertz, how big that pipeline and portfolio is in terms of dollars and opportunities. And I would assume that it brings not only bundled opportunities but also larger dollars in general to the table as you start to get down into it with various customers.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · ROTH Capital

Yes. Scott, thank you. Thank you for your comments. Let me address some of the things you asked. Yes, PTP will -- PTP always remains a little lumpy because defense business does impact PTP positively. So I think that does remain a little lumpy. But it is showing its strength in general because secular drivers are really going for more backhaul resurgence because as networks are going for higher-speed access, you have to also upgrade the backhaul. So I think PTP will benefit from that trend. In terms of the growth as we are going into Q4 and 2021, Wi-Fi 6 will continue to strengthen. I think customers are accelerating transition to Wi-Fi 6. 60 gigahertz has a very deep funnel, very strong funnel, and good, broad global traction because it is a breakthrough technology. So not only are we seeing good POCs, but we also see some new segments emerging for us. We touched briefly about urban connectivity. We touched about some of the backhaul possibilities for small cell markets, video surveillance, high speed. So I think we're also finding new applications. As a result, funnel is good, deep and wide. So overall, good confidence as we go into Q4. And I would also let maybe Stephen make some comments as well.

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · ROTH Capital

Yes. Scott, just to give you a little bit of color in terms of the sequential growth rates we're seeing and how we came up with our guidance, which is at the midpoint was -- is up 4% sequentially. So PMP, we expect that product line to grow in the mid-teens. And we're really seeing continued strength there in our service providers, which, by the way, as you probably know, is our largest end market, and they're continuing to scale their networks due to increased capacity from their customers being put upon them. And also, their customers are changing their habits as they're moving into more rural areas and looking for more and more reliable connectivity. The work-from-home and the educate-from-home, people really want consistent connectivity, and they don't want any spotty performance. And I think Cambium is performing well there in that area. And PTP, as Atul mentioned, we'll see that decrease in the teens, probably the higher teens. And remember, that's coming off a very strong Q3, especially with the federal business, which is seasonally strong in Q3 in particular in North America. And then from a Wi-Fi perspective, we see that to be low to mid-single-digits up sequentially. We're obviously [ recent ] in terms of what's happening in EMEA with so many lockdowns over there. Having said that, North America is pretty strong and helping offset things there. So I hope that gives you enough color for the guidance.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Tim Savageaux from Northland Capital.

Timothy Savageaux

Analyst · Northland Capital

Maybe just following on that topic. As you look at that pretty strong growth for your largest segment and PMP forecast for Q4, is there a material contribution from 60 gigahertz in there, I guess, first question? And then is there any geographic bias to the service provider growth that you're seeing? And I'll follow-up from there.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Northland Capital

No problem. So Q4, 60 gigahertz is still in early deployments, POCs, trials. And I think on the past calls, I have said there's a very well-defined life cycle in our business. Every product line we create is reasonably sophisticated. So it takes customers a good, I would say, 3 months, 4 months to do trials, POCs, get to know lay of the land, understand the wireless characteristics, noise characteristics, environmental characteristics. So my sense is Q4 we, will -- there will be some contribution by 60 gigahertz, but we are in that phase. Acceleration of 60 gigahertz in terms of revenue starts when those POCs multiply into real deployments. And that will run now for a couple of years because once they get the confidence that this multi-gigabit technology is going to give them next-generation architecture, then a lot of things is seen in the access. So I think 2021, but you will see some contribution. And what we are very excited about is that customers are seeing 1.8 gigabit, 1.7 gigabit, that type of throughput, breakthrough throughput speeds and feeds. So actually, their excitement is ratcheting up. Geography-wise, I think Stephen kind of commented as well we see strong North America. Europe, there are some lockdowns, so we'll see how that pans out. But overall still, people still need connectivity, and people are figuring out how to work in the COVID environment. So while these lockdowns are there, I think the world is figuring how to work in that situation. At CALA, we talked about a fantastic record quarter in Q3. Good, broad-based acceleration. And Asia is improving, but that definitely is a region which we think will do better and better as lockdowns finish there. So that's kind of geographically where we are.

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Northland Capital

Yes. And just to add, just some of the numbers. As Atul mentioned, CALA was a really strong quarter for us. In fact, it was a record quarter for that region. We expect that sort of to maintain that pace. It's going to be, I would say, flattish sequentially for CALA. And then for Southeast Asia -- we've touched on the other regions, but Southeast Asia, clearly a region that's been impacted substantially by COVID. And so we see that up mid- -- I would say mid-single digits as things start to open up a little bit over there.

Timothy Savageaux

Analyst · Northland Capital

Great. And if I could follow-up. You mentioned the RDOF process kind of later in your commentary. I wonder if you could -- as the auctions kind of get going here, if you're getting any more visibility as to the magnitude of the opportunity for Cambium and also the timing of that having an impact. A lot of suppliers who are kind of working on the fiber side of this are looking for perhaps mid-'21 to start seeing at least some ramp in activity. I'd be interested in your perspective on that.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Northland Capital

Yes. I think when it comes to RDOF, my sense is that late '21, early '22 is when things will start and then they will run for next good 7 to 10 years. And it'll be a kind of normal distribution. It'll start small and then it'll accelerate. And then last maybe 3, 4 years, it'll start to -- it starts to become much less investment. It will definitely provide Cambium -- and these are just guesstimates. It'll definitely provide Cambium, I would say, possibly, possibly good, incremental revenue because not -- the $20.3-odd billion is not just all wireless. There's wireline, there's backhaul, there's switching infrastructure, lots of things. But I would say hundreds of millions of dollars will come towards PMP and some of the products we -- in terms of category, not that all of that is Cambium. But in terms of the category. So I think we are pretty excited. And let me make one more important point. Government initiatives demand very good measurements and proof that you did deliver that performance. So anyone offering solutions which are not manageable, which are not -- which don't have statistics, where you can't pull very meaningful numbers for each subscriber properly, it's very difficult to collect that money. So I think when we talk to our customers, they love Cambium solutions because with our cnMaestro, they are able to pull things together. If they have other reporting infrastructure, we interface with that. So I think the quality separates very well as these -- as the government initiatives become more sophisticated. So that's some of the benefit, I think, we see, that our solutions are mission critical and enterprise class and they differentiate very well.

Timothy Savageaux

Analyst · Northland Capital

Great. Congrats on the quarter and yes, hundreds of millions is a good answer.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Northland Capital

Thank you.

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Northland Capital

Thank you.

Timothy Savageaux

Analyst · Northland Capital

Congrats again.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Simon Leopold from Raymond James.

W. Chiu

Analyst · Raymond James

This is Victor in for Simon. Can you help us understand how impactful the upside is that you're seeing from service provider capacity constraints? And maybe, how should we think about the sustainability from this pandemic tailwind, if you will?

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Raymond James

So we are seeing very good acceleration on the Tier 2, Tier 3 service providers worldwide. And I think in the past as well, I've said that some of these so-called Tier 2, Tier 3 service providers worldwide -- I mean, in many countries, they are Tier 1 service providers. But on a global scale, I still put them as Tier 2, Tier 3 service providers. They are entrepreneurial. They're innovative. They're adopting new technologies to disrupt their own countries' connecting infrastructure. We see them accelerating. And if you take last, I would say, 2 to 3 quarters, we are seeing good adoption of new technology. So when you look at 60 gigahertz, some of the early adopters are those challengers, right? So I think that will continue. And in terms of capacity, I think by and large, what we're seeing is that service providers have adjusted. They have figured out a way to work in this pandemic situation with isolation and all sorts of precautions. So we are not seeing that as a major constraint, at least as of now, in our customer base. So I think overall, we feel pretty good in terms of that side of the business accelerating. And it's global. It's not just one country. We see that whether it's CALA, whether it's EMEA, whether it's North America. We see Tier 2, Tier 3 bodes well for our business.

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Raymond James

Simon, I'd just add that I think the work-from-home dynamic is just raising the profile and really accelerating continuing for better and better connectivity that we will need so much. And with Cambium's quality and performance, that's really allowing us to get into the driving seat. So we don't see it as a -- any sort of real temporary pull forward demand. We think this is continuing as those service providers continue to want to improve their networks and add more and more capacity as people's working habits change in this environment.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Rod Hall from Goldman Sachs.

Roderick Hall

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

Yes. I guess I'd just come back to growth in '21. And I know that you guys are targeting mid-teens growth. I just wonder if you could walk us through -- do you think you can achieve that next year given the uncertainty in the environment? If you do think you can achieve it, how do you get there? Is it PMP mainly? Is it -- what is the thing that would drive that? And what are some of the risks like the puts and takes around growth next year?

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

Yes. Maybe I'll lead off, Rod and then I'll let Atul come in with some -- a little bit of color. I mean a simple fact at this point in time is we're not really giving any sort of forecast at this point in time understandably for 2021 just given the uncertainty with COVID and macro environment, election uncertainty. There are so many macro issues. We're just going into another lockdown in multiple countries and some regions. So there's a lot of unknowns out there. We'll certainly provide an update when we go through Q4 earnings call. We feel good about the business as we go into our '20 earnings call. I think just at a very high level, we feel good about the business as we go into 2021. We think there are multiple drivers, multiple secular drivers both in terms of the need for more bandwidth, the success we're having in CBRS, the technology transition into new products like Wi-Fi 6 and 60 gigahertz, and then the expansion of our enterprise Wi-Fi business. And then as we go into 2021 first half, the release of our -- or introduction of our 28 gigahertz product. So the product and investment-wise, we look solid. And I think it's just the macro environment that would cause us pause to give any sort of guidance at this point in time. Atul, I think you want to add more?

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

So let's look at the fundamentals, right? In these type of situations, you have to always go back to fundamentals. The drivers are quality broadband is lifeline globally. Work, education, play from home is driving the demand. And this is not going to die down anytime soon. This is going to run for probably multiple quarters. Third key driver is, when people are looking for next-generation architecture, they don't buy legacy stuff. And Cambium has been investing, innovating for multiple years. The products we are introducing right now, we can see 1.5 years back. So if we had not invested properly, we wouldn't be here. And the last key point I'll make is 5G is also going to arrive towards the -- for our markets, fixed 5G, and we will be ready whether it's 28 gigahertz, whether it's integrating 60 gigahertz into that as a high-speed access. So we feel good about where we are as our wireless fabric. And then our strategy is innovate, offer fantastic quality and have superior execution. Those are the 3 things that has been our -- last 4, 5 quarters, that's what we are focused on because you can have great innovation, you can have great quality, but if the execution is not there, you don't deliver results. So I think those are the things which give us confidence that even as macro throws the challenges, I think we're well positioned.

Roderick Hall

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

So do you -- it is a very difficult environment. And you guys have executed well, and your stock reflects that. But one of the things that we should be watching for one way or the other in terms of as leading indicators that, hey, growth is really coming through for this company, it's going to be better than we thought or, well, there are some environmental challenges. Maybe the companies find the products are fine, but there are environmental challenges that are going to make it tougher to grow in '21. I mean what are you guys looking at? I'm just kind of curious about that.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

Overall, as we look at what we offer in solutions, that has become almost like a utility. That has become like a lifeline. So we see that in the new products we are introducing. And in the fact, what is amazing is, things we are showing, still new products haven't really kicked in. Wi-Fi 6 is the only one we have had now for about 2 quarters. 60 gigahertz comes Q4. And then 28 gigahertz comes on, overlay first half. And that gives us a very potent lineup. So as service -- as I said earlier, service providers particularly worldwide have figured a way. They've got to deliver that performance, scale, reliability of that lifeline, broadband lifeline. And the more digitization automation happens as a result of COVID, the more networks become -- the wireless networks become the glue. So we feel that secular drivers are there. All we have to do is make sure we execute well, remain humble, remain closer to customers, listen to them. And those are the things we do.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from George Iwanyc from Oppenheimer.

George Iwanyc

Analyst · Oppenheimer

So Atul, just following up on your comment about the new products kicking in, the 60 gigahertz, 28 gigahertz, in the first half of next year. Is there likely enough demand in the first half of the year to offset normal seasonality? Or should we still look for a bit of a seasonal decline in the first quarter?

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Oppenheimer

I think the new products will give us a little incremental wind. There's always some seasonality because weather in Q1 plays a role. Colder climates means people don't climb the towers much. But we also have enterprise. If enterprise keeps coming back the way it is, it kind of nullifies that a little bit. So I would say there could be seasonality, but I think the new products will make a good dent. That's kind of where our thinking is unless Stephen wants to add something.

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Oppenheimer

Yes. I mean it's just the unknown in terms of the other offsets, right? So, I mean, I know what you're trying to get to in terms of how we start the year. I think that the unknown is what really happens with continuation of COVID and sort of these are the macro issues that we'll face. So tough to sort of give you any sort of color as to do we think it's going to -- our Q1 number historically has sort of been 0 to flattish to up 5% in Q1. It's tough to call whether we'd be any better or worse than that at this point in time.

George Iwanyc

Analyst · Oppenheimer

All right. And Stephen, just kind of following up on the environment. From an OpEx standpoint, do you feel you're at a level that you can drive the sales and marketing that you need and invest in growth? Or do you feel you'll need to step up a bit as you move into 2021?

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Oppenheimer

Yes. So I think there's a -- I think in general, we are going to make investments. They're going to be very targeted investments. We'd be very careful about that as we have over this year so far. And remember, we went through some restructuring exercises where we really did align our cost structure. I think the point to note as you go into next year is we've somewhat benefited from what I would say are some maybe temporary cost discretionary items that are lower. Like T&E, for instance, like travel and expenses overall are down for us as they are for many companies. Nobody is really traveling or getting on flights very much. And so when you look to model that for next year, I mean, that -- our expectation is if things start to free up in certain regions, there will be some sort of increase there. It may not get back to the levels that we had operated in pre-COVID, but we do expect an increase. I think also, we now sort of found the formula of handling sort of a lot of virtual online marketing events, and Atul mentioned that in his prepared remarks. And now we found that formula, we want to sort of really drive that and make better use. So you're going to see a little bit of an increase there. So I think those are the sorts of things where you'll find us putting investments. Obviously, we've continued to invest heavily as a company in R&D, and that's why we've had so much tremendous success in a lot of our new products. And again, we'll be doing that very selectively as we go into 2021.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Oppenheimer

Yes. I think what you'll see us do is judiciously, carefully rifle-shoot those investments where we need to. And COVID has given us a lot of good lessons. And to be frank, COVID was a stochastic shock to all of us in terms of doing things in a very different manner. And without COVID, we probably wouldn't have done this as aggressively and we'll -- actually, we will take those lessons and apply them in the future. So you will not see us go back to the old ways of doing things. You will see us being pretty judicious with expenses. We will invest very carefully where we have to for the future. And I think you're seeing that, what we have done. We worked on CBRS. We started work on CBRS 3 years back. While we are seeing great success now, what people forget is how early Cambium bet on those things. We started investing in 60 gigahertz 2 years back. And some of those quarters were tough quarters for us, but we stayed with that. And now we are going to benefit because we have fantastic differentiation. And these are very sophisticated products you can't build in 1 or 2 quarters. It takes 18 months to 2 years to pull that quality. So we feel good where we are.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Jon Lopez from Vertical.

Jonathan Lopez

Analyst · Vertical

Can you guys hear me okay?

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Vertical

Yes.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Vertical

Yes.

Jonathan Lopez

Analyst · Vertical

Good. So my first question -- I apologize, I've been kind of hopping on and off, but I think I heard you guys say Point-to-Multi-Point calendar Q4, kind of up mid-teens quarter-to-quarter. Did I have that right?

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Vertical

That's right. That's right, Jon.

Jonathan Lopez

Analyst · Vertical

Okay. Great. And I guess one of the questions I wanted to ask you is, just given second-wave concerns and inventory issues, I'm just wondering how you're seeing activity in the channel. Like in other words, do you feel like the channel is trying to put some extra inventory in place ahead of 2021? Or does this feel more consistent with interior demand?

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Vertical

Yes. I would actually say, Jon, the latter with -- and there may be some slight nuances depending on the region. But I would say generally, they're sort of keeping the whole sell-in that we're moving into distributors with the sell-through on to their end customers. So it's somewhat in unison. I think the -- maybe in Europe, in EMEA, which we normally see each year, is they tend to reduce a bit of their inventory given some of the tax consequences they incur on what they hold at the end of the year. So I would probably expect in EMEA that there'll be a little bit of inventory drain there. But I think every other region is probably going to match their sell-in number.

Jonathan Lopez

Analyst · Vertical

Perfect.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Vertical

So Jon, let me just add one more comment.

Jonathan Lopez

Analyst · Vertical

Please, please.

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Vertical

Yes. I think, my -- in March, April, May, in that first wave, I was actually concerned how the entire thing will shake out. I think even if there's a second wave, I'm less concerned because I think service providers have really figured out how to make things happen, how to work. Even if there's a temporary kind of shock to the system, I think service providers are delivering a mission-critical connectivity. So compared to March, April, May, I'm a lot more confident that even with a second wave, I think things will be all right.

Jonathan Lopez

Analyst · Vertical

Got you. That's really helpful. My second question is, I'm just wondering if you could talk a bit about CBRS. And I guess the question I want to ask is, I mean, my recollection was it was maybe the second, third week of October when the expiration flipped. So I'm assuming that you guys -- for all the systems that were available, you've had the SaaS flip. I'm wondering if there's extended opportunity on the back of that. And then, I guess, more importantly, are you seeing an uptick in 450s essentially now that the spectrum auctions are set and people are starting to execute against that -- those investments?

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Vertical

Yes. Answer is yes. So CBRS, first, maybe month or 2 was more again, POCs, making sure SaaS service is working, making sure over-the-air upgrades are working well, end-to-end performance is good. All that is behind us. We have customers, as we've said, north of 50,000 subscribers now upgraded. So yes, 450 3-gigahertz business is seeing uptick. And I think another good thing is there are a lot of countries in the world watching what's going on with the CBRS in U.S. So we also are getting interest from some countries to see what can they do because spectrum control from the cloud is a big deal. It's pretty sophisticated. So we also anticipate, I think, over the next 2 years or so these type of algorithms will influence Wi-Fi 6G, 6-gigahertz Wi-Fi, which is coming down the pike. So I think the expertise we are picking up here bodes very well for the future way of frequency management. So yes, 450 will benefit, but so will probably some of the other parts of our business as well as Wi-Fi 6G.

Jonathan Lopez

Analyst · Vertical

Got you. If I could just sneak one last one in. I apologize. I think one of the things that's kind of impressed me this year is, you guys -- I feel like I have these numbers right. I think you added the most channel partners this quarter than you have all year. And that's kind of despite all the friction -- COVID-related friction that everybody has had to deal with. So I suppose my question is, what's kind of allowing you to continue to get new partners on board? Are you bumping into that friction? And are you starting to see perhaps some pull just given the breadth of the portfolio, some products that perhaps competitors don't have, maybe even 1 or 2 competitors that maybe are perhaps distracted or a little dysfunctional? Can you maybe just talk about that? And any opportunity to continue that activity in 2021?

Atul Bhatnagar

Analyst · Vertical

Yes. So overall, I think we have a much different stature in the industry because we've delivered on so many good things as part of the Cambium wireless fabric. It's not just PMP, it's not just PTP. We have delivered LTE, we have delivered Wi-Fi, we are delivering switching and all managed from a single pane of glass, CBRS, 3 gigahertz, again part of the fabric management. So I think the customers and the channel partners are finding that, that fabric is reliable, affordable, gives them opportunity to really create a lot of different applications. We are seeing pull, there's no question. The number of new customers we are adding every quarter right now is probably the strongest we have ever been. So we are definitely seeing the pull. We are seeing a stronger brand. Our channel conferences in different regions are showing attendance, which is all-time record attendance. So all good. Anything, Stephen, you want to add?

Stephen Cumming

Analyst · Vertical

No. I would just say that we've added machinery in place with our inside sales organization to effectively onboard partners, and I think that's certainly helping in this sort of virtual environment and effectively bringing on these new partners pretty effective pretty quickly and then being able to train them with our online tools.

Operator

Operator

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the conference back to you, Mr. Schuman.

Peter Schuman

Analyst

Thank you, Faith. During Q4 '20, Cambium Networks will be meeting virtually with investors at the JMP Securities Small Cap Tech Forum on Tuesday, November 10; Wednesday, November 11 at the ROTH Capital Virtual Technology event; the Needham Virtual Security, Networking & Communications Conference on Tuesday, November 17; on Tuesday, December 8 at the Raymond James Virtual Technology Conference; and finally on Tuesday, December 15 at the Oppenheimer 5G Summit. In the meantime, you're always welcome to contact our Investor Relations department at (847) 264-2188 with any questions that arise. Thank you for joining us, and this concludes today's call.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call [indiscernible] earnings call. Thank you for your participation. You may now log off.