Telecom Ramblings

The XO/Icahn soap opera is starting to get some real attention, with this story in the Wall Street Journal today.  That certainly brings some firepower to the reporting, they have much more extensive contacts than I do and hence got some nice bits of information.  Amongst them is the identity of the two unsolicited bidders for the company back in June 2008, which had been mentioned in the redacted legal documents as Bidder 1 and Bidder 2. [Read more →]

In a press release today, transatlantic cable operator Hibernia Atlantic announced that it is now offering native 40G wavelengths between Europe and North America.  There have been a few trials before this, Sprint did one late last year over TAT-14, however Hibernia is the first to actually take the technology commercial.  Deploying 40G takes the theoretical maximum capacity of their cable to 10.16Tb/s.   [Read more →]

When Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) announced another sequential revenue decline with its quarterly results two weeks ago, I wondered whether they were losing share or if the malaise was a general one.  Well, it’s a general one, as can be seen by the results of the company’s largest competitor, Limelight Networks (NASDAQ:LLNW, news, filings).  Limelight also saw a sequential revenue decline, checking in with $32.3M, down from $33.2M in the first quarter.  Add in the lackluster results of the Content Markets division of Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) and Internap’s final retreat and write-off, and [Read more →]

q isn’t going to bid on the first round of broadband stimulus funds, according to a story in the Denver Business Journal.  The company says that participating under the current rules doesn’t make financial sense.  Apparently, the free money isn’t so free after all.  Is it ever?  It seems like if anyone could have found a project or two on their own turf that would bring broadband to communities that need it, it ought to be Qwest and its sparsely populated 14 state footprint. [Read more →]

Alongside their earnings report, TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) announced the expansion of their IP VPN to 64 countries around the world.  The company has traditionally focused on those with a regional presence, but as the world becomes interconnected more and more of their potential customers have needs that cross international boundaries.  This new effort will help them serve those of their current customers with international offices better.  Since TW Telecom doesn’t have much in the way of international facilities, I wonder who they are partnering with for this. [Read more →]

Yesterday, TelephonyOnline had a great article on the growing gap between those CLECs handling the recession well and those still suffering.  Upon reading it, I wished I had a visual aid showing how each company’s revenue has progressed over the last year or two so I could get a better idea of the recession’s relative impact on the sector.  There is a tendency by many (myself included) to depend on the words used to characterize each company’s performance moreso than the actual data, and so I like to keep grounded now and then.  So I went out and collected the information and produced this chart of relative growth trends since Q1/2008: [Read more →]

National metro fiber and data services provider TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) announced earnings today, once again demonstrating both the steady growth and operational streamlining we almost take for granted now.  Revenues grew 1.2% sequentially to $301.1M from $297.6M in the prior quarter.  As usual, growth came almost entirely from Data and Internet services, while Network and Voice services just held on.  The company discussed elevated churn levels just as frankly as they always do, especially amongst smaller customers.  But when they talk of a headwind slowing them down, they continue to make solid progress against it nevertheless. [Read more →]

Competitive longhaul and metro fiber operator XO Holdings (news, filings) filed their quarterly 10-Q today against the backdrop of Carl Icahn’s bid for the common shares he doesn’t already own and R2’s attempt to slow him down in the courts.  Revenues of $385.6M were up 2% sequentially from $377.8 in the first quarter.  That’s quite a strong number for XO at a time when many of its direct competitors are struggling to hold the line in a tough economy.  They did it by [Read more →]

Metro fiber specialist abvt reported earnings this morning, showing why they had the confidence to announce a two-for-one stock split last week.  Revenue of $88.0M grew sequentially from $85.4M in the first quarter despite the recession.  Adjusted EBITDA of $38.5M was also up sequentially from last quarter’s unexpectedly high $38.2M.  EBITDA margins fell slightly from 44.7% to 43.8%, but remain above 40% and higher as anyone has any right to expect in this sector.  Earnings per share of $1.95 were, also very strong.  A few more datapoints and we will have to start believing them, eh?   [Read more →]

Upstart internet backbone provider Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI, news, filings) reported earnings on Friday, and managed a pretty good quarter.  Revenues of $58.0M were up $2.9M sequentially, or 5.3% – better than both its own projections and the street’s estimates.  There was a positive foreign exchange impact of $0.7M, but overall it was an impressive number given the stagnation Cogent saw for the previous several quarters. On-net revenues were up 4.9%, while off-net and non-core revenues were up 7.0% and 6.6%, pretty much across the board.   [Read more →]

Fiberlight announced that they have raised $13M in debt from CoBank, the first time they have ever accessed the debt markets directly.  The company has been building out heavily in the DC area this year, including a completely new build to Culpeper VA hooking up Terremark’s new facility.  The difficulty for smaller players in this space hasn’t been finding worthwhile projects, but finding the funding for them.  Fiberlight isn’t saying precisely what they will do with the money, but it’s no mean feat to raise money these days.  It can be done, but only with [Read more →]

In the hours since Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) reported its fiscal fourth quarter and full year earnings, dozens or perhaps even hundreds of articles have been written parsing every word said by CEO John Chambers, every line on the balance sheet.  As Cisco goes, so goes the recovery, or so the media seems to think.  The key phrase?  We may have, perhaps, possibly, reached the ‘tipping point’ sometime during the quarter.  It’s a lovely phrase, meaning whatever we want it to mean.  It’s the kind of phrase CEOs feed us when we demand answers he (or she) doesn’t have.   [Read more →]

This is a guest post by Paolo Gorgò, who blogs over at Nortia Research.  Anyone else who might be interested in a guest post may contact the webmaster.

As Rob noticed in his previous article, “Another sequential decline at Akamai”, the company reported both revenues and EPS down from 1Q 2009, for the second time in a row: [Read more →]

IP and colocation services provider Internap Network Services (NASDAQ:INAP, news, filings) reported earnings today, and made some changes that give us a much better idea where new CEO Eric Cooney will be taking the company.  Revenues for the second quarter were $64.4M, the first sequential increase in three quarters and slightly above expectations.  IP revenues held steady, while colocation revenues were the engine of growth.  EBITDA of $6.8M was also a sequential improvement.  Considering the [Read more →]

Telecommunications equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU, news, filings) has had two nice wins in the last two days.  Yesterday the company announced its routers have been selected by NTT Communications (NYSE:NTT, news, filings) to support Japan’s first MPLS-based IPv6 IP-VPN service.  NTT has been on the forefront of the IPv6 movement, especially in Japan where it is really starting to take hold.  Enterprise customers there now have a migration path for when IPv4 addresses run out, or perhaps more precisely [Read more →]

Competitive local exchange carrier PAETEC (news, filings) reported earnings this morning, showing some wear and tear from the economy but nothing terribly major.  Revenues of $395.2M were down sequentially from $399.8M in the first quarter.  According to the company, revenue pressure came primarily from usage based POTS service and access fees, while data services managed to grow a bit.  Economic pressures may be easing, but they are definitely still out there.   The company pointed simply toward fewer business calls being made by fewer employees, i.e. a direct effect of the increased jobless rate. [Read more →]

In the latest installment of the saga of XO Holdings (news, filings) and Carl Icahn, R2 Investments sent a following letter to the ‘independent’ directors of XO Holdings.  Reading this letter is an entirely different experience from the PR we have to wade through every day.  It was clearly put together with great care, dripping with sarcasm, anger, and a certain resignation.  I find R2’s speculation about how Icahn’s offer will proceed and evolve over [Read more →]

In what some will see as a somewhat surreal event, metro fiber specialist abvt announced yesterday that they will effect a two-for-one  stock split on August 20 in the form of a 100% stock dividend.  They just got listed on the NYSE back in May after an epic crawl out of the MFN bankruptcy back in the last bubble.  The company’s stock has been trading in the neighborhood of $80 despite the economic turbulence, so they certainly have the room to pull it off.  The market has welcomed them back, and hence the split.  But having this particular company doing it while the rest [Read more →]

Yonder Media and surw announced today that Yonder has acquired the fixed wireless customer base of SureWest.  SureWest has been selling off all the bits and pieces of its wireless business over the last few years, preferring to focus on its wired efforts.  One has to wonder though about the press releases.  At 3:53pm they ‘entered into an agreement‘ and at 5:52pm they had ‘completed the sale‘.  Two hours?  You can’t even close on a house in two hours most of the time, nor can most companies write a PR that fast.  Not that it matters [Read more →]

Upstart WiMax provider clwr announced today that it will officially start selling CLEAR 4G in ten new markets on September first:  Bellingham WA and Boise ID  in the northwest, and eight more in Texas:  Amarillo, Lubbock, Odessa/Midland, Wichita Falls, Waco, Killeen/Temple, Corpus Christi, and Abilene.  That gives us a much better idea how they’re going to launch in 80 markets by the end of 2010.  Tier 1 markets are hard, they’ll be rolled out one at a time.  Tier 2 and 3 markets take a bit less effort and can be rolled out in groups. [Read more →]

International wholesale VoIP carrier IBasis (news) [a subsidiary of KPN (NYSE:KPN, news)] rejected an offer from majority shareholder KPN (NYSE:KPN, news) late last week.  The offer of $1.55 per share was made three weeks ago, and represented just a 19% premium above the stock price.   That stock price immediately jumped to $1.80 and above, implying that investors expected a revised offer.  So this move by Ibasis’s board isn’t surprising anyone. [Read more →]

Earlier this week, three European telecommunications giants reported earnings, and all three defied the recession and posted pretty good numbers.  That’s not to say that things are wonderful, all three reported most metrics down from a year ago.  But all things considered, they held the line and maybe pushed back the gloom just a little bit. [Read more →]

Last summer, if you recall, XO Holdings (news, filings) refinanced its debt by selling preferred shares to its majority owner, Carl Icahn.  A minority shareholder, R2 Investments, challenged the deal, and the argument and evidence behind that case are just now coming to light in court documents.  The accusations against Icahn and the board of directors which he controls are really quite amazing, considering Icahn’s public image as a crusader for shareholder’s rights and accountability for directors. But I’m not a lawyer and what I’ve seen so far is just one side, so I’m not going to judge the whole case right now.  But there is one item of great interest to me, found in Exhibit A.  Here it is, verbatim (emphasis added by me): [Read more →]