Telecom Ramblings

Its parent company may be toiling away in the chapter 11 struggle with Aurelius and Uniti, but Windstream Wholesale hasn't let that slow down its network expansion plans. This morning the division announced a new dark fiber route hooking up the Pacific Northwestern markets of Portland and Seattle, lighting it with more gear from Infinera. [Read more →]

When it comes to IaaS and the cloud, it always seems like the big public cloud guys dominate the conversation.  But there are plenty of other voices out there taking aim at the enterprise opportunity from different angles and perspectives.  One such IaaS specialist is Voxility, which expanded its global footprint into Spain a few months ago.  With us today to talk about Voxility's approach and perspective is Maria Sirbu, VP of business development.  [Read more →]

A few more interesting items from this week before the long weekend: [Read more →]

CenturyLink won some significant federal contract business this week. The U.S. Department of the Interior has awarded a task order worth up to $1.6B to the the company. The DOI has some 65K employees around its 2,400 operating locations nationwide. [Read more →]

A few more items to keep up with from the week so far:  [Read more →]

The service provider Fusion announced this week that it has completed its financial restructuring and emerged from the bankruptcy process. The company filed for Chapter 11 back in June of last year, barely a year after buying Birch and Megapath and a month after getting approval for their plan. [Read more →]

Two acquisitions, one technology partnership, and a UC win: [Read more →]

It's time to wrap up last week's polls with a look at who Telecom Ramblings' readers think is going to be buying US network assets this year. Or at least which network operators are likely to be buying. We know the biggest buyers currently have infrastructure funds involved somehow, whether directly or indirectly. But this is more about which existing platforms out there will get bigger, as it's much harder to keep track of potential new financial entrants. That being said, what network operators topped the list this year? [Read more →]

The data center sector has been a dynamic place over the last decade, with lots of money passing through and plenty of technological shifts to adjust to.  But while it may seem as if M&A has touched everyone, there are some players that have managed to chart an organic path, such as Data Foundry.  They have steadily built out a footprint in Austin and Houston and are now looking at further expansion opportunities.  With us today to talk about their view of the market are Mark Noonan, Chief Revenue Officer, and Edward Henigin, Chief Technology Officer.  [Read more →]

Ok it has been a week of voting since we posted polls for the most likely US network operators to sell or buy in 2020. What do the plugged-in readers of Telecom Ramblings think M&A will look like this year? Here's a quick look at my thoughts about the likely M&A targets according to readers: [Read more →]

Colt announced this morning the completion of an expansion project in London. They have added another 110km of fiber in the London metro area as part of a broader buildout of the Colt IQ Network in Europe. [Read more →]

The world is watching other things right now, but in telecom and internet infrastructure we do have a few more things to catch up on at midweek: [Read more →]

Time to catch up on a bit of news from the start of the week: two new products, a financial investment, and a CEO transition: [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Michael Collins, Vice President of Marketing at Connected2Fiber

Think back to what the telecom space looked like in 2010. 5G was $5,000, Over the Top (OTT) was a Sylvester Stallone movie about arm wrestling and the cloud was, well, weather. Over the last decade, we witnessed some of the most significant technological advances that the telecom industry has seen in a generation. Some of these technologies, such as 5G, are gaining traction but have yet to [Read more →]

Yesterday, we asked who the likely targets of consolidation will be in 2020.  Today we reverse the question and ask who the likely strategic buyers of network infrastructure are in 2020.  Last year we only got one out of the top ten, and that counts Uniti's Bluebird transaction as a buy when it was more of a swap.  But to be fair, there weren't many strategic buyers out there in 2019.  What about 2020?  Who has both the appetite and the financial wherewithal to make some deals this year?   [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Sanjay Bhatia, Vice President of Strategy and Solutions Marketing, Ribbon Communications

The transformation from hardware-based equipment to software is a journey that started many years ago, with some of the largest service providers in the world reaping the benefits of network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN). The promise of software designed, defined and delivered real-time data and communications networks is compelling: simplified operations, reduced costs and the ability to spin up new services anywhere in hours or days vs. months or years. The importance of [Read more →]

Happy New Year!  It's that time of year again to take stock of the M&A landscape in the world of network operators.  Which network operators do you think are most likely to get bought this year?  Last year, we didn't do so well, as just three of the top ten picks changed hands: Zayo, SummitIG and Bluebird.  Who is likely to be selling this year? (Not including already pending transactions). [Read more →]

Ok, as promised it is predictions time.  What will 2020 bring to the world of internet infrastructure?  Politics may intrude, as it is an election year.  But if you're looking for a political prediction you've come to the wrong place.  There's no way I'm going to stick my hand near that wood chipper.  Here are a few thoughts, some more specific than others: [Read more →]

So something interesting happened over the Christmas break that I missed initially. Seabras-1 Bermuda Ltd and Seabras 1 USA LLC have filed for bankruptcy, aiming for a quick reorganization. Seaborn Networks itself is fine, as apparently they structured things such that this was the case. However, it certainly can't have been their preferred path. [Read more →]

It's almost predictions time again, which means that first we need to take a look at how last year's predictions turned out.  Well, we don't *have* to, but in my mind a bite of humble pie is a necessary punishment for doing this sort of thing: [Read more →]

As I do every year, I have been looking back on the M&A in the infrastructure space in search of patterns to make sense of: what assets are hot, where they are, etc.  But this year it's clear that the theme is more about who, as this year the infrastructure funds and longer-term, infrastructure-focused private equity groups have really taken charge.  Hence, it makes sense to group much of this year's M&A activity by the financial family to which they belong.  So let's take a quick survey of 2019's M&A activity starting from that standpoint: [Read more →]

In what might be the last big deal of the year, Brookfield Infrastructure and Cincinnati Bell have announced a $2.6B deal. Brookfield will be purchasing the Midwestern service provider for a cash price of $10.50 per share that will take the company private. [Read more →]

Just two shopping days left until Christmas, but over in the EMEA region there's still a few things to catch up on first: [Read more →]