Telecom Ramblings

Both AT&T and Verizon are in the news this week with plans to sell some assets. AT&T is said to be preparing a sale of a data center portfolio reputedly worth some $2B, while Verizon is rumored to be closing in on a sale of wireline and tower assets worth as much as $15B.  [Read more →]

Since its acquisition of Cbeyond last year, one question outstanding — at least for me — has been what they would do with the budding fiber initiatives of the acquired company. Today, Birch in fact revealed a further expansion of its fiber footprint in three major markets. [Read more →]

On Wednesday morning, Level 3 will report its fourth quarter numbers with two months of the former tw telecom’s results to add in.  That will make hash out of the usual table of context I use to keep things in perspective, so instead we’ll try something else to make relatively clear predictions with: [Read more →]

This article was authored by Stefan Hammond, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Research firm Gartner typically offers annual predictions as mentioned in my blog-post “Predictions or science fiction?”  late last year. In January, a couple of switched-on Gartner VPs – Brian Prentice and Andrew Rowsell-Jones – came to Hong Kong to give journalists an in-person taste of the future. [Read more →]

Late last week saw a new job listing land the Ramblings Jobs Board from GeoResults.  Turns out the slow start to the year was in part caused by a bug introduced when we moved to a new server over the holidays — all fixed now I hope. [Read more →]

The FCC’s AWS-3 auction really brought in the cash… After 341 rounds of bidding closed yesterday, the total price tag apparently came to $44.899B, nearly four and a half times the reserve price and twice what observers had been expecting.  [Read more →]

TGIF.  Between Metro Connect and the blizzard, there’s been a lot of news this week that I didn’t get to.  Here’s two international items, some vendor M&A, and two metro networking expansion items to review before the weekend gets rolling: [Read more →]

I spent the last few days at Metro Connect wearing out both my ears and my voice.  It’s always a great event, where the metro fiber industry’s leaders get together and talk straight both in private and in public.  Some of the northeastern contingent had its flights canceled by the snow, but it was very well attended nonetheless.  Here are a few things I took away from Miami — there are probably more, but they are still ricocheting around in my skull. [Read more →]

Just when you might have started thinking it was a feint, Google Fiber is expanding again. Along with Kansas City, Provo, and Austin, the upstart FTTH project announced it will take on four more metro areas. And they’re some of the biggest markets in the southeastern USA. [Read more →]

I’m still at Metro Connect, heading home later today.  In the meantime here’s another set of quick-takes on recent news that is worth a look: [Read more →]

Allied Fiber has won a big dark fiber contract for its ongoing fiber roll-out in the southeast.  Spanish-based Telefonica is coming ashore in North America and onto some new terrestrial dark fiber, taking up residence on Allied Fiber’s growing footprint. [Read more →]

Transbeam has been busy making a big dent in the New York area in the Ethernet-over-Copper and Ethernet-over-Fiber space over the past few years, and they’re now ready to take their platform on the road. They’ll be entering a selection of NFL cities in force this year, which will let them start to address multi-location businesses more effectively. [Read more →]

I’m at Metro Connect this week, so if you are there feel free to look me up!  In the meantime, here’s a quick look at some news from this morning: [Read more →]

This article was authored by Stefan Hammond, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

The “computer” concept used to mean mainframes: giant machines kept in a special room guarded by technicians. Ordinary employees were given “dumb terminals”: keyboard/monitor combinations with wires that plugged into the computer room and controlled access to the “big iron” beasts that crunched the numbers. [Read more →]

Showing just how intent they are on their Mexican invasion, AT&T has made another acquisition just nine days after closing its purchase of Iusacell. This morning they announced a deal to purchase Nextel Mexico from NII Holdings, following through on rumors of their interest since fall.  [Read more →]

Following my tour of DE-CIX and zColo at 60 Hudson last month, I was pleased to receive another invitation from Raul Martynek across the Hudson at Net Access.  Last January, Raul took the helm as CEO as the company entered a new phase of growth.  Net Access hasn’t always been in the data center business, having come to the sector from the dialup ISP world back in the 1990s.   [Read more →]

Google’s rumored move into the wireless space as an MVNO could give them the last piece of the puzzle.  From the device in your hand, the operating system it runs, the email/office/video/social apps you use, the wireless or fiber access network it connects with, the IP backbone and CDN that serves the data, the undersea cables and terrestrial dark fiber it traverses, the cloud on the other end, and the data centers that the servers sit in, Google will have its thumb if not its whole forearm in every single pie.  Should we be more worried than we are?  Or more precisely, who do you think should be most alarmed at the prospect of Google Wireless on top of all else? [Read more →]

Another billionaire is on the move in Europe, adding territory to his empire and helping consolidate the wireless market further. Hutchison Whampoa, which is of course led by Hong Kong’s Li Ka-Shing, has followed through on the not-so-secret rumors and made a bid worth some $15B for O2, Telefonica’s UK wireless division. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Jeff Smith, Strategy & Marketing Director, Interxion

Here in the waking hours of 2015, the networking community is facing fundamental questions – the kind that trace back to its very foundation. [Read more →]

Various reports today are converging on a story that Google is about to enter the wireless game. No, they’re not kicking off another national LTE buildout for us all to watch city by city. They’re going to take the MVNO path to glory. [Read more →]

Consolidation may be in the air in much of European telecommunications and infrastructure, but new networks are getting built too.  Today one launched in northeastern Europe, connecting Frankfurt with Tallinn and hooking up Berlin, Warsaw, Vilnius, and Riga along the way. [Read more →]

Several interesting news items from the metro space this week that are worth a quick look: [Read more →]

Although I wouldn’t call it a frenzy, there seems to be a steady buzz of M&A at the edges of the cloud as larger players acquire smaller, innovative companies to bring the right combination of talent in-house.  Today it was Equinix’s turn, as they announced a deal for the professional services firm Nimbo. [Read more →]