Telecom Ramblings

This guest article was written by Sam Melton, who blogs at sammeltontalks.blogspot.com.  Please feel free to reach out to Sam with any questions.

In the United States Internet speeds are becoming faster and faster with the help of new Internet options that are popping up. From Google Fiber to gigabit Ethernet, the common Internet user now has incredible speed right at their fingertips – and it’s changing how we view and use the Internet. [Read more →]

Here’s a Friday look at some of the network news from around the world: [Read more →]

The metro fiber builder and operator FiberLight has secured some new long term financing. The move will give the company the resources with which to continue its building campaign, and may quiet a few of the more persistent consolidation rumors out there – or perhaps start a few new ones. [Read more →]

Here’s a quick look at some of the news from the industry this week: [Read more →]

Comcast Business picked up another sporting venue contract for its metro Ethernet business. The Oakland Athetics have selected the cable MSO’s Business Ethernet services to bring high speed internet to the O.co Coliseum for the first time. [Read more →]

As one of the busiest consolidators in the industry, Birch Communications has spent its share of time with the bankers. Yesterday they took the wraps off a new refinancing that will pad their cash balance by $25M.  [Read more →]

The Japanese telecommunications giant NTT is expanding its IP network once again. They’ve added two new points of presence in Jakarta, giving them a foothold in Indonesia. [Read more →]

Two operators in Russia have announced 100G deployments so far this week, one in the longhaul and the other in the metro. [Read more →]

Seeking to enable big bandwidth at the edges of the network, Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN, news, filings) added two new boxes to their Ethernet portfolio this morning.  Ciena has been having a big year on the growth front, and further traction for its Ethernet portfolio could help them keep up the momentum. [Read more →]

Zayo added another aspect to its bandwidth business with the launch of a professional services product suite. Their new zTech offerings will take all that network build and operations expertise and give it another outlet. [Read more →]

The response to Google’s Kansas City gambit is gaining steam, as both AT&T and CenturyLink are making strides toward actual 1Gbps FTTH offerings, each in a single market of course. [Read more →]

Here’s a quick look at some news from around the world: [Read more →]

In some news that I didn’t initially see and which doesn’t seem to have gotten much press, several investors from the Warren Buffett circle have bought a fiber network operator and builder. Not in the USA, but over in Ireland.  [Read more →]

Pacnet is stretching its network reach into the US enterprise market with a little help from tw telecom. It’s the first E-Access foray in tho the USA for Pacnet, which has been recreating itself since bringing in former XO chief Carl Grivner as its CEO.  [Read more →]

With key parts of the Middle East continue to roil with civil strife, many terrestrial fiber alternatives to connect the region to Europe have been on the back burner. Nevertheless, four telecommunications companies from the Persian Gulf are planning another substantial attempt. [Read more →]

Not much news out there yet to kick off the week, but fortunately last week there were a bunch of metro fiber items I didn’t get to: [Read more →]

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

The rise of SDN is posing an “existential threat” to networking market leader Cisco, which is bound to put pressure on the vendor’s market share and revenue margins, CM Research warns. [Read more →]

Over on the Ramblings Jobs Board we have a new job listing from Logix down in Texas. [Read more →]

To finish off the week, here’s a quick look at some news that’s come in from overseas: [Read more →]

In a southeast Asian M&A that was rumored to be in the cards as far back as May, Malaysian-based XL Axiata has announced an agreement to buy Axis Telecom. Axiata’s Indonesia subsidiary will be buying a 95% stake in the Indonesian service provider from Saudi Telecom Company and Teleglobal Investments. [Read more →]

Today, assuming nothing goes awry, we will get a new public cloud communications company to keep track of. RingCentral’s initial public offering is all set, and yesterday they announced the initial pricing to be $13.00 per share. [Read more →]

Two bits of news for Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) this week: a high profile contract in the sports vertical and yet another big refinancing. [Read more →]

There’s been a series of interesting items from vendors this week, here’s a set of quick-takes to play some catch-up: [Read more →]