Telecom Ramblings

Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) is at a critical phase in its integration of the Global Crossing business, but one for which it won’t get much credit yet when it comes to reporting earnings this week.  It’s sort of like being 1/4 of the way done cleaning out the garage – the mess can actually appear worse to an observer even if things are going exceptionally well.  With unfavorable seasonal factors in both cash usage and revenue growth, higher integration spending prior to the synergies to be derived from it, and impatience from a market whose short term horizon is as short as ever, this is a “can’t please anyone” quarter if there ever was one.  Here are my guesses and some more specific thoughts:  [Read more →]

Erstwhile wholesale LTE provider LightSquared (news) will be getting a new public face before long. In order to sidestep a default on its debt, Philip Falcone has supposedly agreed to step aside from his current hands-on approach to running the company.  Lenders have given the company until 10am this morning to strike a deal. [Read more →]

Two more listings appeared on the Ramblings Jobs Board this week, one from the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative and a new one from Lightower.   [Read more →]

I was traveling for the past few days, and there’s lots to catch up on. First let’s take a look overseas: [Read more →]

On Wednesday Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN, news, filings) announced its first quarter results with revenues just below the median of guidance with EPS and guidance at the top of the range.  But the more interesting pieces came in the details of forward guidance.  The company’s 500G PIC DTN-X launch will be at the end of the quarter, and its effects dominated their comments about future performance.  First, here’s a quick tabular summary in context [Read more →]

With the AboveNet purchase waiting in the wings, Zayo Group (news, filings) today cleared its plate of other matters. They have announced the completion of the integration of the longhaul network assets of 360networks. [Read more →]

With its position on the Northeastern corridor plus Chicago, Sidera Networks’ regional and metro fiber assets give it a premier position in the sector, especially when it comes to the financial services vertical. With us today to talk about Sidera’s current activities and plans for the future is their new President, Clint Heiden. Clint previously drove the fiber businesses of PAETEC and Intellifiber, and joined Sidera back in December. [Read more →]

Carrier neutral datacenter provider Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings) turned in a powerful first quarter this morning.  Revenues, EBITDA, and earnings were each above expectations, and the company increased guidance to match.  On the expansion front, they announced plans for their third Miami-area data center.  Here is a quick tabular summary: [Read more →]

Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) turned in a strong first quarter, but rattled the markets a bit with some succession news.  CEO Paul Sagan is planning to leave the company by the end of 2013, staying on for the transition period until a successor can be brought in.  Here is a quick table of Q1 results in some context: [Read more →]

With the company busy spending to build out LTE, expectations for Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S, news, filings) to beat estimates in the first quarter weren’t high, but that’s what they did this morning. Revenues of $8.73B were slightly higher than expected, while the net loss per share of $0.29 easily better than the composite analyst guess of $0.41.  The markets seem to [Read more →]

After a dismal winter for Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR, news, filings) with weak Q4 results and weaker Q1 projections, the last thing I expected from the company was a reasonable quarter.  But in fact they easily beat those low goalposts they had erected.  Revenues of $1032.5M came in well ahead of their prior projections of $960-990M, while earnings per share came in above the edge of their range.  Here’s a quick summary of the relevant data in some context: [Read more →]

Here’s a quick survey of some recent items from US competitive operators: [Read more →]

Global telecommunications giant AT&T (NYSE:T, news, filings) turned in its Q1 earnings report this morning, checking in with revenues of $31.8B and diluted earnings per share of $0.60, the former being in line and the latter being three pennies above expectations. [Read more →]

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

In this interconnected world, no economy can grow without the internet. Several studies have shown that a 10% increase in broadband penetration could improve gross domestic product (GDP) and labor productivity, especially in low– and middle-income countries. But apart from access, the quality of connection defines  [Read more →]

Lots of news to start the week already, here’s a quick look at some interesting bits from Fibertech, Sparkle, Level 3, Telx, and SegTel: [Read more →]

Perseus Telecom and Reliance Globalcom say they have teamed up to take the leading position in the transatlantic latency race away from Level 3’s AC-1 route, which had held the position for some time. The two have launched the QuanTA system, which leverages Flag Atlantic’s northern cable, the latest advances in optical technology, dispersion compensation methodology, and processing equipment, and of course shorter routes. [Read more →]

After more than two months of consideration and a challenge from Tata Communications (news, filings), Vodafone Group (NYSE:VOD, news, filings) said this morning that it has reached an agreement to buy cw.  They had received a three day extension on Friday, which seemed to indicate the tying up of loose ends on a bid.  The purchase will give Vodafone a substantial enterprise-focused fiber footprint in the UK that will help them scale their mobile backhaul infrastructure. [Read more →]

Pan-European network operator and cloud services provider Interoute offered a window into its 2011 performance this morning. The company found growth in both its network and cloud businesses, and revenues surged all the way to €366M, 24% higher than the prior year despite the continent’s overall macroeconomic malaise. EBITDA and earnings also rose to [Read more →]

Data center REIT CoreSite (NYSE:COR, news, filings) hit the acquisition trail today and entered their eighth US market.  They have purchased Comfluent, a carrier-neutral, network-centric colocation provider located in Denver.  Comfluent provides colocation space and cross connects across 9,300 square feet at 910 15th and Pearl Plaza, including [Read more →]

Time for a poll, what do you think? [Read more →]

For the past year, the mantra of the large wireless carriers has been of a looming spectrum crisis.   It was the biggest reason AT&T put forward to push through its bid for T-Mobile USA, and it helped LightSquared make its case that making its spectrum available would help add competition to the market.  Both efforts went down in flames, and now Verizon is also dancing a bit to convince regulators to let it buy a pile of AWS spectrum from the cable companies by offering to sell other spectrum – this time in the 700Mhz A/B bands. [Read more →]

Time to catch up on some other noteworthy news from this week from inetwork, Enventis, Broadsoft, and Telco Systems: [Read more →]

Yesterday in New Delhi, yet another giant international submarine cable project was unveiled. The BRICS cable project would hook up Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa to the US. If you’re a map freak like me, you’ve now got a globe in your head on which you can’t figure out just what route we’re talking about. [Read more →]