Telecom Ramblings

For a transaction that lacks an actual bid and whose rumors have largely been denied for years, this sure is starting to look like an auction. Late last week, it emerged that Verizon (NYSE:VZ, news, filings) may have hired advisers to put together a $100B bid for the 45% of Verizon Wireless still owned by Vodafone Group (NYSE:VOD, news, filings). But despite the fact that no actual bid is on the table, six major Vodafone investors are making their dissatisfaction with its supposed girth known. [Read more →]

When the superstorm Sandy hit New York City last autumn, telecom and internet services across the region had their disaster contingency plans put to the test.  But while the last mile took substantial damage where the storm surge and wind hit most directly, the internet itself and the fiber networks it runs came through it all pretty well.  One network operator that did especially well during the crisis was the enterprise-focused tw telecom, whose VP and General Manager for Manhattan Robert Bianco made some time for a quick Q&A with Telecom Ramblings: [Read more →]

We have another job listing this week from the midwestern-based fiber builder and operator Unite Private Networks to go with two others still active and one from AireSpring still on the books as well. [Read more →]

This is a guest post by Mia Henderson, Blogger at TexasElectricityProviders.com

The telecom industry shoulders an unspoken responsibility for keeping our modern society in working order. Granted its prevalence and necessity in nearly every corner of the earth, it’s somewhat surprising [Read more →]

Colt’s first quarter numbers suggested the European headwinds are anything but over. Revenues of €392.1M and EBITDA of €80.5M were both down sequentially, although still within the range the company has been stabilizing at as Voice revenues have churned off due to regulatory shifts.  But they’ve also been expanding on the fiber front lately. [Read more →]

The Southeastern fiber builder and operator FiberLight has completed another big piece of its Texas buildout project. Earlier this week the company introduced their new regional fiber network connecting the largest metro areas in the eastern part of the state, turning it up in just 73 days.  [Read more →]

This article was authored by Grace In Mono, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Unless you live under a rock or in North Korea, you should know that social is the way to go. [Read more →]

Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) closed the books on the Crowe era with their first quarter 2013 numbers.  I wasn’t expecting much, and I got what I expected – although with differences in the details of course.  Revenues were rather weak, but costs and those apparent synergies were back on track keeping EBITDA in the expected range.  Here’s a tabular look with some context: [Read more →]

Infinera also posted its first quarter earnings yesterday, and like Akamai they made investors quite happy.  The company’s DTN-X entry into the 100G market hit the streets a bit less than a year ago after long anticipation, and three quarters later it is clearly driving things forward – with forward meaning increased guidance: [Read more →]

Akamai followed up a weak fourth quarter with a stronger than expected first quarter performance.  The cloud CDN provider checked in with revenues substantially above both guidance and estimates, and matched their forecast for non-GAAP earnings per share while the street was just looking for $0.46.  Here are their numbers in some context: [Read more →]

I suppose that’s what you get when you outperform so consistently.  The quarterly numbers reported today at Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings) were steady, right within their narrow guidance range for revenue and a little above for EBITDA, but came in light compared to those pesky analyst estimates and the stock is down sharply after hours in response.  Here’s a quick table of the relevant data with some context: [Read more →]

Several interesting items from the metro and regional fiber segment this week: [Read more →]

With two bids now for the company, Sprint’s Q1 numbers have less urgency than normal. With their LTE buildout underway and the Nextel shutdown this coming quarter as well as the whole Softbank/Dish/Clearwire brain teaser in the background, beating overall expectations demonstrates some real focus.  Sprint posted revenues of $8.79B and a loss per share of $0.21, both of which were better than expected. [Read more →]

In the networking equipment segment, Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR, news, filings) kicked off earnings season wits first quarter of 2013 results.  Revenues were within the guided range, although slightly lower than composite analyst expectations.  However earnings per share of $0.24 were stronger, boosted by three cents by a retroactive R&D tax credit.  But as usual it was guidance that most people focused on.  Here’s a quick table with some context: [Read more →]

Time for a quick roundup of news today from EarthLink, CenturyLink, Orange Business, and Dialogic: [Read more →]

The other Reliance is in the news this morning with a deal for substantial undersea connectivity to Singapore. Reliance Jio, the new 4G entrant in India owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, has followed up the fiber sharing deal with his brother Anil’s Reliance Communications by dealing for more fiber with another rival. [Read more →]

The network infrastructure vendor Xtera is on the move beneath the waves this week, with both a new contract and a new product hitting the news. [Read more →]

GlobeNet, the international submarine capacity arm of Brazil’s Oi, announced the completion of its buildout between Tuckerton, NJ and St.David’s Bermuda. The 1,350km cable system will take over duties for Segment 5 of the company’s ring connecting the east coast of the US to key points in South America. [Read more →]

Reliance Communications may have reached the endgame in terms of monetizing its Globalcom division, but the game itself is still shifting. The Indian carrier acknowledged today that it is working on a deal, but it’s not with Batelco anymore despite previous rumors. [Read more →]

This will be a big earnings week, as companies across the sector offer up their Q1 numbers.  Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) will be one of those, coming off a decent growth but disappointing EBITDA quarter in Q4 but with a newly minted/promoted CEO.  I have had several folks ask me where I think their numbers will come in, and I have to say it has been a hard one for me to get a handle on.  But nevertheless, here’s the usual table with my guesses: [Read more →]

We have another job listings this week from the midwestern-based fiber builder and operator Unite Private Networks to go with the one that was already still active and one from AireSpring as well. [Read more →]

Lots of short but interesting items this week from across the industry. Here’s a quick look at some from the metro fiber community: [Read more →]

Seaborn Networks checked off another few boxes yesterday on its to-do list for the new submarine cable system hooking up the US with Brazil they’ve been working on. They’ve now lined up additional connectivity options in the New York metro area and established their primary gateway location down in Sao Paolo, Brazil. [Read more →]