Telecom Ramblings

ArsTechnica has a detailed piece out asking this question about the future of bandwidth, but really it’s the wrong question. Of course bottlenecks *can* be averted, the real question is: who will make oodles of money on it this time. [Read more →]

Competitive metro fiber operator TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) easily beat my own guesses on most fronts yesterday with its first quarter earnings report.  Revenues were a bit higher than expectations, while margins, EBITDA, and earnings per share all expanded.  Free cash flow was above the usual range due to lower capex and a slight dip in on-net building additions.  Here’s a quick tabular summary. [Read more →]

Competitive service provider XO Holdings (news, filings) is adding cloud-based virtualization, content acceleration, and interactive contact center solutions for the enterprise under its Concentric brand.  Their new Concentric Cloud Solutions portfolio is built off their own asset base plus technology from [Read more →]

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings) has been adding space organically in Asia at quite a good clip, but apparently it wasn’t fast enough to keep them happy.  The carrier-neutral colocation giant is buying data center assets and operations across Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai from Hong-Kong-based Asia Tone.  Not quite all of Asia Tone though perhas, as they also seem to have facilities in  [Read more →]

Just a few weeks shy of a year after taking out PacketExchange, gtlt has made its second acquisition of a tier-2 network operator.  The operator has now bought Chicago-based nLayer Communications, according to an announcement this morning.  Financial terms were not disclosed. [Read more →]

Fiber earnings season is moving into high gear this week, so here are a few more early looks at what we might see from tw telecom (first in line), Cogent Communications (by request), and Lumos Networks (the newcomer): [Read more →]

Internet traffic is apparently picking up along Africa’s western coast, as the Main One cable is getting a capacity upgrade already. The Nigerian-owned cable system and TE SubCom announced yesterday that they’ve brought online an additional bank of 10Gbps waves to meet growing customer demand. [Read more →]

Earthlink Business launched three more cloud-based IT services today as it rounds out its portfolio.  The company is busy transforming a collection of CLEC and IT services assets into a cloud-based service provider.  They are already a far different company than the historical dial-up company that most probably still associate with the name, but they’re still in a transitional period. [Read more →]

The Internet2 is moving into more complex services than supplying big dumb pipes to universities. Today they announced an agreement with both internet backbone operator Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) and Ontario-based communications provider Aastra to provide managed voice services to universities nationwide. [Read more →]

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 →]