Telecom Ramblings

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

The Federal Communications Commission is releasing a new net neutrality proposal in the US. It is FCC’s third attempt to regulate net neutrality, after a court turned down the previous version in January. Net neutrality means [Read more →]

It’s time for a quick summary of other data center news from this week: [Read more →]

This earnings season has been pretty positive so far for internet infrastructure.  Yesterday after the market closed, Equinix added to the list of positive earnings reports with better than expected revenue and earnings.  Here are their key numbers in some context: [Read more →]

Ok, I think it’s clear that one of this year’s main themes in the networking and colo worlds is going to be cloud connectivity. Everyone is jockeying for position, and this week we have at least three significant moves — one by Equinix just this morning in advance of earnings later, one yesterday from Level 3 and Digital Realty, and one the day before over at DuPont Fabros and tw telecom. [Read more →]

In its first quarter report, Level 3 Communications picked up where it left off in Q4 of 2013.  That’s a good thing, because Q4 was their biggest in recent memory.  CNS and total revenues beat expectations (both mine and the street’s), as did EBITDA and earnings per share.  Here are the numbers in some context: [Read more →]

Here’s a quick rundown of some other news from the metro over the past few days: [Read more →]

Watch what they do, not what they say. If you needed any further evidence that Netflix’s antics lately have been more about negotiating position than net neutrality principles, you got it yesterday. Netflix did another interconnection deal with a big last mile operator: Verizon. [Read more →]

Since acquiring its way back into the colocation space back in 2012 with the purchase of 16 facilities from Equinix, 365Main had kept the name of its iconic original flagship location in San Francisco. But today they finally took the rebranding plunge, switching to 365 Data Centers while simultaneously taking on a sacred cow of the data center space. [Read more →]

It’s official, Zayo’s latest acquisition is across the Atlantic in France.  This morning the Boulder-based network operator announced an agreement to purchase Neo Telecoms, an independent metro fiber and data center operator in France. [Read more →]

In a heavily foreshadowed but rather complex cable M&A move, Charter is now buying a piece of Comcast. The deal is quite complicated, but following the completion of Comcast’s TW Cable purchase it will see Comcast divest about 3.9M subscribers and get back about $22B. [Read more →]

I’m picking up rumors over in Europe that Zayo is set to make a move on some French metro fiber. The target of that speculation is none other than Neo Telecoms, which operates an extensive metro dark fiber network in Paris as well as a set of data centers around the country and a regional IP backbone. [Read more →]

Last quarter, Level 3 Communications busted through the break-even mark at long last with a big fourth quarter.  On Wednesday morning we get to see if the trend holds, or almost holds given the seasonal revenue hesitation the company generally sees in the first quarter.  I’ve followed Level 3 closely here over the years, and so here are my quarterly earnings guesstimates: [Read more →]

We have a new job listing on the Ramblings Jobs Board this week from GTT. [Read more →]

This industry viewpoint was authored by Brett Moorgas, Asia/Pacific Field Marketing Manager, for the Endace division of Emulex.

There are two trends in the market that have an interesting relationship. The adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies is delivering greater flexibility and agility for employees and efficiency gains for the organisations who [Read more →]

Here’s a quick Friday rundown on some of the news from the international front: [Read more →]

Remember the new network neutrality framework FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler promised to come up with? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, those rules will make their grand entrance in three weeks, but of course they’ve ‘leaked’. If accurate, I’m not sure calling them ‘net neutrality’ rules fits anymore. [Read more →]

As the 100G market gains momentum, so are the bandwidth arms merchants that specialize in it.  Infinera had another strong quarter, showing sequential growth despite Q1 being usually somewhat weaker and guiding well above expectations for Q2.  Here is a table of their results in some context: [Read more →]

According to a report in the UK’s Guardian, there could be a pile of pan-European infrastructure on the table soon. After yet another reorganization of its business model, some analysts apparently think Fidelity may be finally ready to sell Colt, which it has long held a majority stake in.  So just to speculate idly, who might show up for such an auction? [Read more →]

Quite a few regional cloud and data center announcements already this week that are worth a look: [Read more →]

This week’s announced purchase of Cbeyond by Birch Communications caught many in the sector by surprise. While Cbeyond had been on the table for a couple quarters, many I had talked to were skeptical they would find enough interest. But with Birch stepping up with a $323M bid, I suspect other service providers making the transition to cloud and managed services may find suitors knocking. [Read more →]

It’s official, Netflix opposes the Comcast/TWC merger. I’m not sure why that question had to be asked, I’m sure any number of people could have ghost-written the answer they gave in advance.  [Read more →]

With one announcement yesterday and two before the long weekend, tw telecom offered some more details on the rollout of its fiber expansion, market by market. They announced the major new fiber investment back in November and have been wasting no time getting started. [Read more →]

Birch Communications apparently found itself a rather large Easter egg over the weekend, announcing the purchase of Cbeyond this morning. It’s an all cash deal worth roughly $323M, with Cbeyond’s shareholders getting between $9.97 and $10.00 per share – a level they certainly haven’t seen in a while. [Read more →]