Telecom Ramblings

According to reports, Russian telecommunications giant Rostelecom is buying IP/MPLS network operator RETN. At least that’s what it sounds like — the Russian fiber market has always been a bit opaque to me and the tortured language issued by the FAS regulatory body didn’t help one bit: [Read more →]

Lately Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI, news, filings) has begun to come up more frequently as a fiber M&A target in both the media and analyst reports, while for many years they haven’t really popped up too much in the various consolidation rumors.  That’s partly because they’ve stated that prices are higher than they are willing to pay, while CEO Dave Schaeffer has seemed focused on simply continuing to chart an independent, disruptive [Read more →]

Hmmm, I think magicJack VocalTec (NASDAQ:CALL, news, filings) is trying to get some attention from the markets. It’s not often that a company pre-announces in February that it will beat analyst estimates for Q1, and then pre-announces again after Easter weekend to confirm that it in fact probably has done so and intends to resume and accelerate its stock buyback program.  But then, magicJack has never been known for its humble approach to PR either [Read more →]

Over the weekend, AT&T (NYSE:T, news, filings) and unions representing tens of thousands of workers passed a deadline without a new contract. For now, the unions and the company are still negotiating and the workers will still be working according to a Reuters report. The main area of dispute is who pays how much for [Read more →]

Happy Easter to everyone!  Most readers are probably still on break but for those who aren’t here are some quick looks at some news items that happened since or slipped through the cracks last week. [Read more →]

The Ramblings Jobs Board has had a very productive spring, especially since it was remodeled last month. This week we have a new listing from a familiar face. Jaymie Scotto & Associates is looking for [Read more →]

There was some lively discussion following my, err, somewhat lively response to that WSJ article earlier this week.  My own opinion is no secret, but let’s put it to a vote just to see where we stand as a group: [Read more →]

It was truly inevitable that after last quarter’s final regulatory defeat over the GPS interference issue we would see LightSquared on the ropes. That is what the word is out there in the media today with bankruptcy is looming large as an option, with Philip Falcone himself quoted by Reuters as ‘seriously considering’ a voluntary filing. [Read more →]

With Easter on tap this weekend, let’s wrap up with a few quick looks at items in the colocation space, which has been very busy this week: [Read more →]

In the Wall Street Journal yesterday there appeared an article entitled “Optical Delusion? Fiber Booms Again Despite Bust” which requires a response. While noting the importance of where the fiber is in determining its value, the author continues to speak from the doubtful perspective that there is some [Read more →]

This article was authored by Don Sambandaraksa, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Smart mobile devices have long been hailed as the solution to the digital divide and many speak of the wonders that contactless payment technologies enabled through NFC and online payment apps can bring. But all too often, technology seems like a solution searching for a problem. [Read more →]

Yesterday I was reading this piece on the threat to the incumbent telcos and cable operators plans for the SME from independent cloud-based VoIP and UC from service providers like ‘8×8, Aptela, Fonality, and Nextiva’, and it occurred to me that there was something missing. There’s someone else out there who used to fight for these customers, but has faded a bit from the view of Wall Street. [Read more →]

With their proposed acquisitions of Abovenet and Arialink still pending, Zayo has continued to push forward on all fronts lately. Today they announced the completion of the network expansion in Nashville that they had started on in the fall, finishing up with [Read more →]

ABRY Partners seems to have an unending appetite for internet infrastructure currently. Today they expanded their colocation footprint by buying Access Northeast and merging it with Xand, which they just purchased six months ago.  [Read more →]

TeliaSonera International Carrier added a big sports broadcasting notch to its belt this morning, announcing that it will be delivering live NHL games to the Scandanavian countries. While of North American sports it’s usually basketball that gets exported the most, for countries touching the Arctic Circle it is naturally hockey [Read more →]

Reports from Europe this morning say that private equity is moving in on one of the largest independent fiber operators in the Netherlands. Doughty Hanson has apparently agreed to buy a majority stake in Eurofiber from [Read more →]

There have been several interesting colo/cloud items already this week, here are a few quick takes: [Read more →]

While its NBN project has a long road ahead of it yet, Australia got some 100G loving today from AAPT. They commercially launched a 100Gbps connection between Melbourne and Sydney on April 1, but of course it’s better to announce such things [Read more →]

Integra Telecom (news, filings) said today that it has launched wavelength services. The western CLEC and network operator isnow [Read more →]

This article was authored by James Henry, Senior Managing Director of Bank Street Group.

In recognition of April Fool’s Day, I thought the readers at Telecom Ramblings might enjoy this Monopoly-inspired Fiberopoly board game: [Read more →]

Until now, the wonders of the cloud revolution and low latency connectivity have been targeted at niche industries like gaming, high speed trading, and hospitals. But now the true power of fiber and the cloud is coming to the mass markets, as major telecommunications companies quickly move beyond server instances and backup infrastructure to standardize a revolutionary new cloud service with real potential to stem those landline revenue declines: high speed pizza delivery. [Read more →]

We’ve had a bumper crop of job listings on the Telecom Ramblings jobs board since my upgrade two weeks ago. This week we have a top management position at OpenCape and a group of four from Northeastern fiber operator Lightower. [Read more →]

Another week has passed, or will have passed by the end of the day of course. Time to catch up on some more interesting news items: [Read more →]