Birch Makes 14th Buy

January 4th, 2012
 

Over in the CLEC world, Birch Communications has been doing a bit of a stealth rollup.  Yesterday they announced their 14th acquisition on the past five years, signing an agreement to purchase the operating assets of AstroTel.  Those assets include an IP network covering part of the west coast of [Read more →]

Leave a Comment

Zayo’s zColo Buys a DC in Vegas

January 3rd, 2012
 

Of course, it had been a whole quarter since the 360Networks deal was announced and a month since it closed, so Zayo Group (news, filings) naturally kicked of 2012 with its 18th acquisition. The company’s zColo division has bought MarquisNet’s Las Vegas data center business. [Read more →]

20 Comments

Starting the New Year With a Bang, Internap Buys Voxel

January 3rd, 2012
 

Colocation and boutique IP networking provider Internap Network Services (NASDAQ:INAP, news, filings) took another big step into the cloud this morning, announcing that they have purchased Voxel.  Voxel sells hosting and cloud services to the enterprise.  The deal has already closed, and has been valued about [Read more →]

1 Comment

M&A Poll: Which US Network Providers Will Be Buyers In 2012?

January 3rd, 2012
 

Welcome back everyone!  I have asked this question each of the last several years, and in 2011 readers actually did a pretty good job, with five of the top seven making big moves during the year.  Once again, I’m including US fiber network operators generally valued at $500M or above, public or private – though I don’t claim the list is complete.  You can select up to three, so your second and third choices matter: [Read more →]

4 Comments

LightSquared Gets Another 30 Days From Sprint

January 3rd, 2012
 

The travails of LightSquared (news) added quite a bit of spice to the wireless business last year, and the news won’t be letting up now that 2012 has begun. Over the weekend, the 4G wholesale protagonist got at least a bit of good news with a reprieve from Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S, news, filings). [Read more →]

Leave a Comment

Wireless Steps Up to the Low Latency Plate

January 2nd, 2012
 

The need for raw speed in the financial vertical has apparently evolved to the point where wireless transport may find wider usage.  According to this article, which a friendly reader pointed out to me over the holiday weekend, wireless gear is increasingly being marketed for its low latency advantages.  In fact there is one firm, McKay Brothers, that says it is building a wireless NYC-Chicago link that will best the ultra-low latency fiber build of Spread Networks.   [Read more →]

5 Comments

A Thank You to Ramblings’ 2011 Sponsors

December 30th, 2011
 

On this slow-news, mid-holiday Friday I’d like to take the opportunity for a bit of housekeeping.  First I’d like offer a big Thank You! to the many advertising sponsors that have helped make Telecom Ramblings possible throughout 2011.  In alphabetical order: [Read more →]

8 Comments

What’s Up With Verizon’s LTE?

December 29th, 2011
 

To say that the new LTE network lit up by Verizon (NYSE:VZ, news, filings) this year is having a few growing pains is now something of a Christmas understatement.  According to reports, service is again down for the count with customers unable to connect to its 3G and 4G network in major cities. [Read more →]

9 Comments

Taking On Oppenheimer’s Glut Forecast

December 29th, 2011
 

A few weeks ago, a research report by Oppenheimer started circulating in which the authors looked at the current state of the US longhaul transport market. In effect, they said that there is still a fiber glut and that there will continue to be a glut for another decade until there are only 3-4 players left in the longhaul market – with LVLT remaining the most active consolidator. I have been asked to comment on this report by a half dozen readers now, so here goes. [Read more →]

10 Comments

Ramblings 2012 Predictions: Diverging Flavors of the Cloud

December 28th, 2011
 

In 2011 we saw huge shifts at the border between telecom and internet infrastructure, as telecommunications companies of all colors and stripes took action to gain a foothold in cloud-based services. The word ‘cloud’ may be an over-used, under-defined buzzword, but it is now quite clear that the revolution that lies underneath it is quite real. As the telecom industry transforms in response we are seeing two quite distinct flavors emerge that in 2012 will continue to diverge. [Read more →]

14 Comments

Sprint Reaffirms LTE Buildout Schedule

December 27th, 2011
 

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S, news, filings) seems to be eager to get started with their LTE buildout, and I don’t blame them. Much of 2011 has been spent wringing hands (theirs and others) over their future plans and their competitive position if the AT&T/T-Mobile deal were to come to pass. Today the company reaffirmed its aggressive LTE buildout schedule, as part of its Network Vision initiative.  They hope to quickly make up [Read more →]

Leave a Comment

Building Additions Accelerated in 2011

December 27th, 2011
 

Did you know that at least five US competitive fiber operators are reporting 1,000 or more buildings on-net than they did last year at this time?  As promised, I have updated my metro fiber and on-net building statistics page to reflect all the fiber buildouts and M&A activity that have taken us through 2011.   You can check the full list of course, but here is a look at some incremental numbers. [Read more →]

7 Comments

Merry Christmas!

December 25th, 2011
 


1 Comment

Ramblings Jobs: Mapcom Systems and First Communications

December 23rd, 2011
 

Four new job openings were posted to the  Telecom Ramblings Jobs Board this week, making this the best December so far at least in one small way.  I have plans to change the jobs board over from the current limited, hosted system to something a bit more extensive, but that will [Read more →]

Leave a Comment

Ramblings 2012 Predictions: Less Fiber/CLEC M&A

December 23rd, 2011
 

Yep, you heard me right.  After the plethora of smaller fiber deals in 2010 and this years larger combinations, I think 2012 is going to be a bit quieter on the M&A front. Part of the reason is simply that most of the low hanging fruit has been picked, and most of the assets out there are now in the hands of owners that know what to do with them – or at least [Read more →]

7 Comments

Akamai Takes Out Cotendo

December 22nd, 2011
 

Well, the rumors turned into reality this time, as this mornings headlines have Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) signing a definitive agreement to buy upstart competitor cotendo.  Talk of such a deal started bubbling up after Thanksgiving, and there were solid strategic reasons behind the combination.  But the rumored price tag overshot the mark slightly, as Akamai will be paying [Read more →]

9 Comments

WFN Takes On Arctic Submarine Challenge

December 22nd, 2011
 

Last January, I highlighted one of the more unlikely submarine cable plans that I had seen out there, connecting East Asia directly to Europe via the Arctic Ocean. Well whether the same protagonists are involved or not it seems as if the idea itself is still alive, as yesterday WFN Strategies signed on to help design and implement the Arctic Fibre cable system[Read more →]

1 Comment

John Scarano Resurfaces at euNetworks

December 21st, 2011
 

Former Zayo President & COO John Scarano has resurfaced at quite some distance from Colorado to join the management team at euNetworks.  The independent European metro provider has combined its Finance and Operations teams into a single core function, which Scarano will lead as EVP of Finance, Operations & Corporate Development.  He has also been appointed as Vice Chairman to the Board, while Uwe Nickl also joins the board as an Executive Director. [Read more →]

2 Comments

Network Roundup 12-21: Sprint, Zayo, Earthlink, CBeyond

December 21st, 2011
 

And here’s a quick take of a few more items, this time from the network side of the tracks: [Read more →]

Leave a Comment

Colo Roundup 12-21: Cologix, IO, Telx

December 21st, 2011
 

Christmas is nearly upon us, but there’s still interesting stuff going on this week.  Here’s a quick take on several such items from the colo space this week: [Read more →]

2 Comments

Nothing wrong with being dumb

December 21st, 2011
 

This article was authored by Tony Poulos, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

I’ve decided there’s nothing wrong with being dumb. These days just having a smartphone handy can make the dumbest person absolutely brilliant, as long as he’s smart enough to use the smartphone. However, when it comes to being a network operator, the word “dumb”, when used with that other hackneyed noun, “pipe”, sends shivers down telco CEO spines. [Read more →]

1 Comment

Poll: What Should T-Mobile’s Plan B Be?

December 20th, 2011
 

Now that AT&T’s intended purchase of T-Mobile USA is finally officially dead, the pressure will quickly build on Deutsche Telekom to come up with a Plan B.  They have insisted they don’t have one yet, but I am sure there are all sorts of conversations going on already internally.  The unit doesn’t have enough spectrum to build out LTE, they has been bleeding customers all year, and their current situation is obviously unstable. But the breakup fee could make a real difference if applied in the right direction. What should they do?  Well, if you read Ramblings you know my thoughts on the matter, but what are yours?  Here’s a poll to see what the mood is.  Don’t be limited [Read more →]

1 Comment

NTT Expands in European, TransPacific, and Asian Theaters

December 20th, 2011
 

Japanese telecommunications giant NTT Communications (NYSE:NTT, news, filings) has many pots on the stove these days, with three interesting expansive notes in three different geographies. [Read more →]

Leave a Comment