Telecom Ramblings

Over the next 30 hours or so, two of the USA’s largest competitive fiber operators will feature their fourth quarter numbers: tw telecom and Level 3 Communications.  Given that Integra and Zayo didn’t offer up any negative surprises, the economic playing field is probably fairly stable.  Here’s a preview of what I expect from both companies’ numbers: [Read more →]

Ok, I’m back in the saddle again after a vacation in the wild side of China, and I see we have a new job listing this week from Zayo Group. [Read more →]

The privately held competitive fiber operators are posting the early financial numbers this year, with Zayo Group (news, filings) turning in a big EBITDA number reflecting integration progress in its fiscal second quarter.  It’s always a challenge to parse Zayo’s financials in light of their voracious M&A appetite, but here’s their numbers in some context: [Read more →]

I’ve been posting this week from Xishuangbanna, China down on the Myanmar border, and it’s been a blast – though I was a bit late yesterday due to a miscalculated trip that happened to pass through a forest fire (really). Lots of interesting news still out there I didn’t get to, here’s a Friday roundup as I head home: [Read more →]

The Southeastern fiber builder and operator FiberLight is undergoing a leadership transition, as longtime CEO Mike Miller is stepping down. Miller, who helped found the company 16 years ago and turn it into a regional fiber power, will be retiring from FiberLight to pursue other opportunities.   [Read more →]

For the recent few quarters, Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) has been posting better than expected earnings numbers.  They managed to mostly continue that string yesterday but the street was apparently looking for more.  First here are their numbers in context: [Read more →]

Integra Telecom isn’t public currently, but it lately hasn’t been shy about posting its earnings numbers.  Yesterday they posted their preliminary Q4 results, giving us one of the first year-end data points for competitive fiber operators.  Total revenues held steady, with recurring revenues rising with the trend and adjusted EBITDA up strongly for the second straight quarter.  Here’s a table of their recent results in context: [Read more →]

This article was authored by John C. Tanner, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Now that Carrier Ethernet 2.0 is all set for commercial deployment, you may now all brace yourselves for Carrier Ethernet 3.0. [Read more →]

France Telecom-Orange and Alcatel-Lucent today announced the deployment of a 400G wavelength optical link today. With the actual deployment of 100G now starting to gather a bit of actual steam, I suppose it’s time for the next big thing to start stealing the spotlight. [Read more →]

I’m on the road this week, so I’m a bit more rushed than normal. But already so far this week there has already been a bunch of news from the metro that I wish I had more time to delve into: [Read more →]

Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN, news, filings) reported its fourth quarter earnings yesterday after the market closed, finishing out the year by meeting guidance and coming in just ahead of analyst projections on all fronts.  The company is now in the midst of deploying its latest DTN-X platform across a variety of customers, a stage at which margins dip for a time.  Here’s a quick chart of their numbers in some context: [Read more →]

We’ve been hearing a lot about deployments of 100G by network operators around the world lately, but far less about the market for the waves themselves. The deal that Sidera Networks announced this morning with the MSO MetroCast belongs in the latter category though.  [Read more →]

GTT made another inorganic move yesterday with the announcement that it has acquired Chicago’s IDC Global. That will add IDC Global’s two colo facilities and the metro fiber hooking them up to 350 East Cermak to GTT’s collection of assets, and give it a head start with cloud services too. [Read more →]

The buzz around telepresence tailed off last year, which was to be expected given the early stage of adoption it was actually at when the technology was the newest thing.  However today I noted the news from AT&T, which has forged interconnection agreements with both the Indian giant Tata Communications and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems division and thus increased the scope of its service.   [Read more →]

Session border specialist Acme Packet (news, filings) found itself a strategic buyer, and not a minor one either. The database giant Oracle has agreed to purchase the company for $2.1B in cash, or $29.27 per share. That’s a 22% premium to the closing price on Friday, and works out to a purchase price of $1.7B net of the cash on Acme Packet’s balance sheet. [Read more →]

The Washington Post this morning has an interesting piece about the FCC’s new plans for public super WiFi networks across the country. It has me a bit puzzled, because it looks like a reincarnation of the municipal WiFi movement of a few years ago. The prospect of free broadband connectivity around town, enabling cell phone users to offload virtually everything and avoid paying for minutes and such was always a big draw. [Read more →]

With the exception of the MegaUpload flap a year ago, Cogent had a rather quiet year in 2012, selling the usual tons of bandwidth at low prices, building out to both new markets and additional buildings, and of course weathering Hurricane Sandy.  The market certainly liked it as the company’s stock price rose 35% on the year and has continued to rise since.  Cogent has always had a unique, tightly focused, and lately entirely organic approach to the bandwidth business. Here to give us an update on where the company is and where it’s going in 2013 is CEO Dave Schaeffer. [Read more →]

With groundhog day in mind for tomorrow, here’s a further roundup of news I didn’t get to this week from AT&T, CyrusOne, Emerald, Level 3, and Zayo. Note that next week I’ll be travelling, so if articles trail actual news a bit further then usual for a few days that’s why. [Read more →]

clwr filed a preliminary proxy statement related to the proposed merger with Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S, news, filings), but it left pretty much everything hanging where it has been since Dish made its unsolicited bid of $3.30. Things have gotten increasingly complicated of late, as the DOJ has asked the FCC not to decide until it makes its own decision in light of national security concerns and such. [Read more →]

This article was authored by John C. Tanner, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is building a smart-grid project using passive optical networking (PON) technology, which could not only help it deliver electricity more efficiently across the country, but also turn it into China’s next broadband service provider. [Read more →]

Time for a quick review of news from this week from the metro front, both fiber and managed services: [Read more →]

América Móvil AMX-1 submarine cable system took another few steps toward reality yesterday. The Latin American giant and Alcatel-Lucent are preparing to get the new 100G system ready for commercial service by the end of 2013. They just got regulatory approval from Mexico a few months back. [Read more →]

This week has seen a milestone in the development of Carrier Ethernet, as in a webcast with Bob Metcalfe himself on Tuesday the MEF unveiled the first twenty equipment vendors to pass the CE 2.0 certification process globally. That’s about quarter of the organization’s vendor members already with more in the pipeline, suggesting a rapid uptake is underway since the original announcement less than a year ago. [Read more →]