Int’l Bytes: Telstra, Reliance, Starhub

Maybe spring will arrive next week.  In the meantime, as we in the northeast get back to normal after the latest nor’easter’s effects melt away, here are some more international items to note:

Telstra is expanding its European presence. The Australian incumbent is deploying new PoPs in both Frankfurt and Paris, as well as a new office in the La Defense area of Paris that will serve as its hub for the continent. The new PoPs will help bring the SDN-powered Telstra Programmable Network to a wider array of enterprise opportunities. In June of last year, Telstra acquired Company85 in an effort to grow its influence in Europe, and that project is obviously still ongoing.

In India, Reliance Communications took another step toward what it hopes will be the new normal. Bondholders holding $300M of the company’s debt have signed off on the sale of it’s mobile business to Reliance Jio. It was the second attempt, as at a meeting earlier this month they couldn’t get enough bondholderst to attend. Reliance will be refocusing on its Indian enterprise business and on Global Cloud Xchange. But there’s still some more debt reduction news apparently on the way, as Reliance says it is in discussions with a ‘global strategic partner’ to whom they may sell a stake. We’ll just have to see who that might be I guess.

And in Singapore, the telecom and energy utility markets may be starting to overlap. Starhub is entering the open electricity marketplace there via a new joint initiative with Sunseap. Starhub is looking to take advantage of regulatory efforts by Singapore to liberalize the energy sector later this year. They hope to bundle energy services with mobile, video, and broadband, and are taking aim at the growing clean energy movement.

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Categories: Energy · Internet Backbones · Mergers and Acquisitions · SDN