Telecom Ramblings

The entire telecom equipment sector may be digging in for a long winter, but that doesn’t mean it is dead.  Yesterday there was M&A activity as Overture Networks announced the acquisition of Ceterus Networks.  Since both companies are private they haven’t told us any of the financial details, however given that Wall Street isn’t handing out much money these days it was probably a stock deal.  And as deals go, this one makes some sense.

Both companies produce carrier ethernet equipment at the edge.  Overture’s technology is focused on access networks to the enterprise, while Ceterus’s technology focuses on hooking up cell towers for wireless backhaul.  Both types of ethernet access are poised for growth when the economy stabilizes, they share many features and the customer lists are quite similar (metro fiber providers).  Thus, the two companies do fit well side by side and there is some safety in numbers nowadays.