Telecom Ramblings

With the reality of the CenturyLink transaction a long ways off yet, Level 3 today announced an Ethernet expansion over in Europe.  Following through on plans announced earlier this year, they have taken their Metro 2.0 Ethernet solution into 15 additional markets, giving them 42 in all where they can offer Carrier Ethernet 2.0 services.   [Read more →]

And the week in M&A is still going on.  CenturyLink this morning followed up its announcement to buy Level 3 Communications with another one selling its data centers and colo business to private equity. [Read more →]

It’s been quite a week, and it may not be over yet.  Reuters has a report out this morning that Windstream and EarthLink are talking about a transaction, citing people close to the discussions. [Read more →]

We haven’t done one of these in a while, since the Verizon/XO deal was announced actually.  This week saw the blockbuster announcement that CenturyLink will be buying Level 3 Communications.  Readers of Telecom Ramblings make up perhaps one of the most informed audiences when it comes to telecommunications and internet infrastructure.  What are your impressions?  Choose up to three adjectives from the list: [Read more →]

Here’s a quick rundown on other news from this week, including a regional fiber win, some submarine cable action, some carrier Ethernet, and a virtualized router deployment: [Read more →]

The private equity firm GTCR is adding to its carrier voice empire.  They will be purchasing publicly-held Inteliquent for $23.00 per share, which works out to a total purchase price of about $800M.   [Read more →]

The world of network gear saw some M&A this morning, as Broadcom announced a deal to acquire Brocade Communications Systems.  The deal will see the communications chipmaker expand its presence in data storage products.  Broadcom is paying $12.75 per share, which works out to some $5.5B. [Read more →]

While its larger Colorado cousin is busy dancing the merger tango, Zayo’s Canadian acquisition of last year continues to pay off in the form of new business.  Yesterday they revealed another contract leveraging the Allstream assets up in Canada. [Read more →]

Windstream finished off some government work this week.  The Arkansas-based service provider says it has completed construction and delivery of custom network solutions for the Defense Information Systems Agency, or DISA.  [Read more →]

As the lone tower company that has been making fiber acquisitions, Crown Castle had been relatively quiet over the last year or so since acquiring Sunesys a year ago and 24/7 and Access Fiber before that.  They are quiet no more, however, as today the company announced an agreement to buy FPL Fibernet from NextEra Energy. [Read more →]

A day after the CenturyLink/Level 3 deal was hatched, it’s time to start to count a few chickens.  Fair warning:  I’m going to ramble a bit. [Read more →]

This article was authored by Jouko Ahvenainen, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Strategies are interesting to analyze, but it’s not easy to predict the future based on the past. Last time I wrote about telco strategies, and now AT&T’s Time Warner acquisition is an interesting new move. It is a marriage of [Read more →]

Looking ahead to the next stage of network infrastructure, Ciena has lifted the curtain on its next-generation technology optical platform. They have announced WaveLogic Ai, a fully programmable coherent modem which will underly the company’s upcoming upgrades to its product portfolio. [Read more →]

The rumors of talks between CenturyLink and Level 3 were not just true, they were imminently true.  The boards of both CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications have approved a merger agreement valued at $34B including debt assumed.  The deal has the potential to dramatically shift the infrastructure playing field, and will take a while to process fully — at least for me. [Read more →]

Along with the blockbuster news of its merger with CenturyLink, Level 3 also reported its earnings this morning, a few days early — getting all the news out there at once apparently.  Revenues were down sequentially, both total and core, as weakness in both the US and Europe was only partially offset by a big quarter in Latin America.  Earnings per share of $0.40 was a couple pennies light.  Here’s a summary of their numbers in some context: [Read more →]

BroadSoft is celebrating Halloween with an inorganic move.  This morning they announced the acquisition of VoIP Logic, a wholesaler of VoIP and UC services that has traditionally focused on smaller service provider customers.  As with most of BroadSoft’s targets in recent years, they were also already a part of BroadSoft’s ecosystem with products built off of Broadworks. [Read more →]

We have a new job listing to peruse over on the Ramblings Jobs Board from a familiar face. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Robin Kent, director of European operations at Adax

The telecoms industry is undergoing a huge transition. There’s a brand new connected world out there and reports suggest that by 2020 some four billion people will have made the move and be subscribed to the LTE horizon. In light of this, [Read more →]

That’s the rumor that hit the markets earlier today. The idea that the CenturyLink and Level 3 could come to an agreement on each other’s value is a bit surprising to me, but less so than in the past.  The markets are taking it seriously, as both company’s stock prices were up around 10% on the day, though that suggests maybe they aren’t sure who is buying who here. But let’s take this a piece at a time just to lay the idea out there for thought. [Read more →]

Two Canadian expansions by US-based companies, some new Texas fiber, and some more connectivity for the Jersey Shore: [Read more →]

Google and its Alphabet parent is apparently not quite as hot on fiber as it once was.  According to this post yesterday on Google Fiber’s blog, they are retrenching and pausing their plans to move into some new cities.  The division is apparently letting go some 9% of its workforce, and the head of the company’s Access unit, Craig Barratt, is leaving as well.   [Read more →]

A customer win, an expansion, and two earnings reports: [Read more →]

This article was authored by Lachlan Colquhoun, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

AT&T’s mega offer to buy Time Warner looks more defensive than transforming.  If it spends more than $120 billion on acquisitions in two years, can the telco survive and service that much debt? [Read more →]