Alcatel-Lucent, a telecommunications equipment maker, announced today that it posted its fifth straight quarterly loss. The company lost 181 million euros ($282 million) compared to a loss of 8 million euros a year earlier, when profits were boosted by the sale of businesses to Thales SA. Revenues were down 3.86 billion euros ($6.02 billion) compared with 3.88 billion euros from last year.

Alcatel-Lucent expects overall revenue for 2008 to decline by 2% to 5%. The company blames the loss on a weak dollar and lower spending by operators.

The first-quarter numbers sent shares of the company down 6.5% to sell at 4.2 euros ($6.5).

Alcatel-Lucent predicts that global communications equipment and related services will be flat in 2008. Chief Financial Officer Hubert de Pesquidous blames the worsening economic climate.

“While the long-term prospects for the industry are positive, the current macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, leading the company to continue to be prudent in its market assumptions,” Alcatel-Lucent said in a statement.

Alcatel-Lucent is in the middle of a company restructuring that may cut up to 12,500 jobs. The company cut 6,700 jobs in 2007. Alcatel-Lucent shares have lost about 10% of their value this year, after losing more than half their value in 2007.