Labor Day Roundup: Samsung, Xplornet, CityFibre, FiberSense

I hope everyone had a good weekend.  While you were gone, here are a few news items from over the weekend or late last week worth catching up on:

Verizon’s plans for rolling out 5G in a big way just got a little bit clearer. Over Labor Day weekend, Samsung announced a $6.6B contract to supply Verizon with 5G gear over the next 5 years or so. It’s a big win for Samsung, which is looking to raise its profile in a sector dominated by Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, etc.

Some fiber has changed hands up on Canada. Xplornet has announced the acquisition of F6 Networks. F6 operates 1,600km of fiber in the eastern provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The combination of those assets with Xplornet’s rural wireless and fiber footprint will enable the combined company to accelerate its plans in the region. Last year Xplornet announced plans to invest $500M over the next 5 years.

CityFibre has picked up another major wireless backhaul deal in the UK. Three has tapped the company to connect another 1,300 masts across 59 towns and cities as it expands its 5G rollout efforts. The fiber rollout should be complete by the end of 2020.

And there was an interesting technological idea unveiled down in Australia last week. FiberSense, another of the efforts backed by the billionaire entrepreneur Bevan Slattery, has lifted the curtain on VIDAR, short for Vibration Detection and Ranging. The idea uses fiberoptic cable to capture and analyze vibrations from nearby objects, thus turning a fiber optic network into a sensor net.  I have no idea where that’s going to go, but it’ll certainly be interesting.

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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber · Telecom Equipment · Wireless