Telecom Ramblings

For those who keep track, I have updated each of the competitive telecom financial trends plots to reflect Q4/2012 numbers, except for a few straggling morsels of data that will get here when they get here.  But in addition I am considering changing the relative capex plot to reflect the trailing 12 months rather than the individual quarterly number.  The reason is obvious: capex can be very lumpy, which makes it hard to spot trends.  Before I make the change officially, here’s a first look: [Read more →]

Here’s a few quick takes on news from the data center and cloud side of things, with items from Cologix, Net Access, Interoute, Global Capacity, and  Akamai: [Read more →]

Orange Business Services, the international B2B arm of France Telecom, posted a status update for its cloud computing business today, putting a few numbers behind their segment of the ongoing cloud revolution.  Many telecommunications companies around the world have bet on cloud-based services as a new revenue opportunity, and any visibility [Read more →]

With OFC/NFOEC this week, it was perhaps inevitable that we would get a deluge of 100G-related news. Here’s a quick rundown of news from all the major players: [Read more →]

If there’s one place in the world that Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) is having no problem finding demand, it’s South America. Hence, their announcement today construction plans for a new data center in Colombia won’t come as a total shock.  There has been a steady stream of talk from the company about expanding the company’s infrastructure in the region. [Read more →]

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

In trying to quantify the gains the internet has brought to society, last week’s Free Exchange column in the Economic discussed the concept of the “consumer surplus”, which is the difference between what a consumer is willing to pay and actually pays. [Read more →]

It’s still early yet in the 100G deployment cycle, but we are already starting to see tests of the optical industry’s next gear. Yesterday in Australia, Telstra and Ericsson did just that with a successful 1Tbps trial. [Read more →]

We have another job listing this week, another from Unite Private Networks to go with the other four they still have active: [Read more →]

Plenty of news this week from Europe, so let’s finish off with a quick look at metro fiber moves by Geo, euNetworks, Akado, Vodafone and Orange: [Read more →]

Bahrain’s Batelco may be poised to buy a controlling stake in Reliance Globalcom. Both companies have confirmed that such talks are underway, however nobody has signed on the dotted line just yet. The deal supposedly under consideration would keep Reliance as a minority owner. [Read more →]

TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) has been awarded a competitive multi-year federal contract to bid for services from the GSA’s GRITS II. With a potential value of $550M, the award simply gives them the right to bid on providing various services to agencies and organizations across the Southeastern US, specifically [Read more →]

India’s Reliance Globalcom says it is upgrading its transatlantic FA-1 South submarine cable system with the help of Ciena’s GeoMesh. That will mean 100GbE with OTN support will be on tap when complete. [Read more →]

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings) has formally opened the doors of its second downtown Seattle data center. SE3 is right next to SE2 within the Westin Building carrier hotel, boosting Equinix’s space in the Seattle metro area by 51,000 square feet and room for 1,000 cabinets. [Read more →]

Quite a bit of news this week from the alternative CDNs despite CompTel, with multiple items each from Level 3, EdgeCast, and CDNetworks plus the launch of CDN.net: [Read more →]

There was a bit of fiber consolidation up in the Pacific Northwest today. Fatbeam announced an agreement by which the regional metro fiber builder will acquire its way into the market of Tacoma, Washington. The non-profit EMAN Networks is selling them the 25 miles of network they have in the area.  [Read more →]

Still fressh off its IPO, CyrusOne has some big plans beyond mere colo space on its home turf down in Texas. They’ve apparently been building a statewide internet exchange fabric, hooking up their own facilities as well as other carrier hotels throughout the Texas Triangle cities of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. [Read more →]

Just after the five month mark since T-Mobile’s purchase of MetroPCS was announced, regulators have signed off on the transaction. Yesterday, it was the FCC giving the green light, and today the FTC has followed suit. But regulatory clearance hasn’t really been the question, now T-Mobile and MetroPCS will face the real test: the smaller carrier’s shareholders. [Read more →]

A quick Wednesday look at some news from the metro space from Alpheus, Sunesys, Windstream, and UNSI: [Read more →]

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

Choice quotes from insiders and outsiders at the Mobile World Congress last month: [Read more →]

Pacnet today announced a significant expansion of its data center footprint with a brand new facility in Singapore. Back in October, Pacnet and its new CEO Carl Grivner detailed a new plan to drive the company forward in which managed services and data centers would play a big role. Given that this buildout will cost $90M, clearly they are putting some money behind those words. [Read more →]

Let’s leave behind the main routes for the moment and look at sever interesting news items from much further away: [Read more →]

DukeNet says it has completed a significant network expansion taking it into new markets across four more southeastern states.  They’ve built out metro and regional networks in Birmingham, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville, Athens, Atlanta, and Richmond, Virginia, and are planning an expansion up to Ashburn.   [Read more →]

The wireless backhaul specialist PEG Bandwidth announced a major expansion of its footprint today. With a series of recently executed contracts in hand to power 4G expansion for four large wireless companies, they’re planning to add 1,500 new cell sites across 10 states to their network. [Read more →]