Telecom Ramblings

This article was authored by Dylan Bushell-Embling, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

An explosive report has accused Chinese intelligence agencies of sneaking a tiny chip into servers assembled in China for US chip maker Supermicro that introduced hardware vulnerabilities enabling stealth access to any network using the altered devices. [Read more →]

One metro fiber and four data center expansion items worth noting before you head out for the weekend. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Steve Smith, VP of Strategic Industries, ClickSoftware

Typically when a customer calls their service provider, they have a problem, whether it is to report an outage, a billing issue, or some other disruption in service. Warranted or not, telephone and internet providers do not have the best reputation for their responses to customer service requests. However this perception seems to be shifting, [Read more →]

The southern hemisphere has never really gotten its share of subsea connectivity, but activity certainly has picked up lately.  Today the long proposed but unconsummated buildout of SAEx came a step closer to reality as SAEx International and Alcatel Submarine Networks announced the start of desktop study, permitting, and survey activities. [Read more →]

Two contracts, one p3 buildout, and the closing of some consolidation: [Read more →]

Windstream Wholesale says it will be expanding its core transport network out to the New Jersey shore in Q4.  The company is adding capacity and lowering latency out to NJFX in Wall Township, a growing nexus alongside the landing stations for submarine cables to Europe and South America. [Read more →]

123Net has a new fiber partner to the northeast of Detroit.  They are teaming up with St. Clair County RESA, which built out 200 route miles of fiber a couple decades ago to hook up its seven K-12 public schools and is looking to make better use of that asset.  [Read more →]

Yesterday saw some interesting consolidation in a segment I don’t cover too much.  Starhome Mach announced yesterday that its owners at Fortissimo Capital have agreed to sell the company to Vista Equity Partners.  Vista intends to combine the company with Telarix, which it has owned since 2016. [Read more →]

A few items from across the Atlantic worth noting: [Read more →]

With the Interoute integration well underway, GTT apparently needed some more action to fill up its autumn season.  Yesterday they announced another deal, acquiring Access Point.   [Read more →]

5G is here, or at least it is in parts of Sacramento.  Verizon today formally launched what it says is the first commercial 5G network today. [Read more →]

This article was authored by Dylan Bushell-Embling, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Japanese fixed line operator TOKAI Communications has contracted Australia-based Telstra to provide connectivity to help pursue an international expansion. [Read more →]

Another of this year’s fiber M&A deals has closed, bringing a new player onto the scene. The Australian-based private equity firm AMP Capital has completed its acquisition of Everstream, which can now turn its attention to further growth. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Stacey Kuyf, writer and content strategist for atmail

The telco industry is facing a number of challenges, such as the need to increase revenue as traditional services decline and competition increases. Customers are also demanding increased [Read more →]

Overall subsea capacity is always going up, sometimes because of new cables but sometimes due to improvements in the technology using them. Yesterday Infinera claimed a few new such milestones leveraging its latest gear on the MAREA transatlantic cable system. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was contributed by Michael Quinn and Jan Ebelt of Q Advisors

Vonage adds more “Tools to the Toolbox” and Potentially Further Distances itself from BroadSoft-Cisco [Read more →]

Three interesting partnerships worth noting in recent days, one for subsea cables, one for cloud interconnection, and one for optical vendors: [Read more →]

This week a familiar face is making a move to the wireless sector after a long run. CenturyLink’s CFO Sunit Patel resigned from the company effective this Friday, and will be taking on an EVP role as Merger and Integration Lead for T-Mobile US. [Read more →]

Worth noting from the start of this week: three bits of metro fiber news and one subsea upgrade: [Read more →]

This article was authored by Dylan Bushell-Embling, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

The UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development have moved to accelerate efforts to connect the roughly 50% of the world’s population that still do not have access to the internet. [Read more →]

Of the data center markets in Latin America, Brazil certainly does get its share and then some of the global M&A attention. Today Digital Realty announced an agreement to acquire Ascenty from the private equity group Great Hill Partners, turning a rumor from July into reality. [Read more →]

Since its acquisition of Cyan a few years ago, Ciena has continued to build up its software and services division.  The Blue Planet solution has become a key piece of the company’s plans to support network and services automation.  Ciena has been very active in standards development, trials, and live deployments of such solutions across the sector.  With us today to give his perspective on the present and future of SDN, NFV, and automation is Rick Hamilton, SVP of Global Software and Services at Ciena.  [Read more →]

In subsea cable news from this week that I didn’t get to: an expansion, two bits of M&A, and new build milestone. [Read more →]