Telecom Ramblings

According to the telecom research firm Telegeography, 10G waves on major international routes saw substantial price cutting last year.  Between Q4/2011 and Q4/2012, their data say that median monthly prices for 10G waves between major global markets fell some 37%, while pricing for smaller pipes was somewhat more stable.   [Read more →]

There have been several interesting bandwidth and telecom items from the specialized financial vertical this week. Here’s a quick look at news from Perseus Telecom, Orange Business Service – Trading Solutions , and IPC Systems: [Read more →]

Yesterday Integra Telecom said that it has taken advantage of its improving operational prospects to refinance their balance sheet, which dovetails nicely with Searchlight’s entry as a major investor at the end of 2012. They’ve been working on the refi for the past few months, good to see they’ve finally finished it off and knocked some $19M off their annual interest expenses in the process. [Read more →]

Reuters reports that at the Mobile World Congress Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao expressed confidence that the company could easily spend on European expansion without needing to sell it’s 45% Verizon Wireless Stake. Various analysts have been talking about pressure on Vodafone to increase its wireline presence to compete, which is something it already did some of with the C&W Worldwide deal last year. [Read more →]

The effects of month’s surprise dividend cut by CenturyLink and the market’s response are still reverberating throughout the wireline side of telecom and fiber.  In fact, it feels to me as if the M&A playing field may have shifted materially.  [Read more →]

This week we have four new job listings, all from Unite Private Networks out in the Midwest. [Read more →]

Some quick takes from around the world featuring news from AT&T, euNetworks, Ciena, and Tata: [Read more →]

This article was authored by Joseph Waring, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Telcos are blinded trying to resolve their many short-term issues and don’t see the big picture, says ZTE VP of wireless Sean Cai. [Read more →]

One oops and much of northern Alabama found itself even further away from the rest of the world than normal yesterday morning. A utility contractor snagged one of AT&T’s main cables in the region while digging (what else) and took down the region west of Huntsville, including Florence, Decatur, Hartselle, Madison, and Athens for both voice and data.  [Read more →]

With most of the fiber guys at Metro Connect (wish I were there!), let’s look again at news from the colo space lately: [Read more →]

The alternative bandwidth provider Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI, news, filings) posted its fourth quarter numbers this morning.  Revenue was basically inline, EBITDA and margins were above expectations, and earnings per share was a bit light.  But the steady improvement in the company’s performance since last Spring gave them enough to boost their dividend by another 10% up to $0.12 per share.  Here are Cogent’s numbers in some context: [Read more →]

Some interesting inorganic news today from the alternative service provider side of things. Impact Telecom has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Matrix, or more specifically specifically all outstanding shares of both Matrix Telecom and AmericaTel Corporation. [Read more →]

For those public US bandwidth operators that aren’t wireless driven and have reported Q4 earnings thus far, the market has not been impressed at all. While AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have been stable or even up, take a look at how these six companies have fared in the stock market since the month began: [Read more →]

NTT Communications has been one of the most aggressive early telecom-focused adopters of cloud technology globally, and today they let the horse out of the regional Japan+HK stable they launched in last June. Their Enterprise Cloud offerings are now available globally, with nodes added in Singapore, Virginia, California, and London plus more on the way in Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand in March. [Read more →]

Two data center buildouts completed, one getting started, and a contract: [Read more →]

In the Q4 results and forward guidance released by Earthlink this morning, you can just tell that the transformation CEO Rolla Huff is trying to pull off has a lot of miles yet to go. They are looking to newer IT and managed services capabilities for growth, but the results of that effort are still dwarfed by the declining fiber, CLEC, and access businesses they are using to get there. [Read more →]

InterXion (NYSE:INXN, news) today detailed some of its expansion plans for 2013. The European data center specialist will be building a new data center in Stockholm, and expanding existing facilities in both Frankfurt and Copenhagen.  [Read more →]

In the wake of CenturyLink’s surprise dividend cut, many eyes were on the earnings report of Windstream this morning to see if they’d do the same. They didn’t, and in fact made a point of reaffirming their current $1/share dividend. [Read more →]

As Metro Connect get started down in Miami, here’s a quick look at some news from the European front from Colt, Sea Fibre, VTLWaveNet, and Alcatel-Lucent: [Read more →]

According to reports, regulators in India are ready to allow service providers to provide voice services on 4G wireless spectrum, regardless of the underlying technology. Or at least they’ll allow it once the fee of 16.58B rupees ($306M) is paid. Yes, you read that right, a government is making service providers pay up for their own over-the-top services over data connections.  [Read more →]

During Level 3’s earnings call last week, the company mentioned an acquisition if fiber in London they made in 2012. The deal wasn’t  big enough to make the news, and there apparently wasn’t enough revenue to be material in a financial sense – so it slipped between the news cracks. But it’s not often a deal goes by without a mention here, so it’s time to belatedly note that in August Level 3 acquired FibreSpan. [Read more →]

Glad to see there’s some hiring going on out there, though the telecom job market isn’t an easy one currently.  This week we have a new listing from Lumos Networks. [Read more →]

It’s Friday before a long weekend, if you take President’s Day off in the US of course.  Here’s a quick look at some news from afar before you go, including an expansion by NTT and three vendor contracts of interest: [Read more →]