Telecom Ramblings

Optimum Lightpath, the metro fiber division of Cablevision, introduced a new product today: Ethernet-based Virtual Private Ring Service or VPRS.  What is VPRS, other than a new addition to the alphabet soup used as vocabulary in the network world?   Well, it's not a new technology per se, it's more of a new package of existing technology. Basically, if you sign up for VPRS, you get your own virtual metro Ethernet ring hooking up each site with a direct fiber connection, [Read more →]

This is a guest post by Paolo Gorgò, who blogs over at Nortia Research.  Anyone else who might be interested in a guest post may contact the webmaster.

I'd like to add my comments to Rob's article “So the recession is indeed punishing CDNs.”  After all these companies, both pure plays and telecoms, reported 2Q results and issued weak guidance for Q3, it's quite clear that the sector is experiencing [Read more →]

Amidst the furor over Icahn's bid for the company, XO Holdings (news, filings) announced today the further expansion of its longhaul network.  That network, built on 18 fibers of the original Level 3 build that the company acquired back in the bubble, has seen a steady stream of capex devoted to it over the last few years.  This time they will be deploying the ILS2 system of Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN, news, filings), which supports up to 160 wavelengths on a single fiber.  [Read more →]

Last week I took a look at relative revenue trends amongst a wide range of competitive telecoms, but revenue is not the whole story.  In this post, I update and add to an earlier study of adjusted EBITDA margin trends from back in May, including Q2 numbers, some missing data, and the results of Sprint Wireline and CBeyond.  With no further ado, here is the updated chart across 6 quarters now: [Read more →]

The XO/Icahn soap opera is starting to get some real attention, with this story in the Wall Street Journal today.  That certainly brings some firepower to the reporting, they have much more extensive contacts than I do and hence got some nice bits of information.  Amongst them is the identity of the two unsolicited bidders for the company back in June 2008, which had been mentioned in the redacted legal documents as Bidder 1 and Bidder 2. [Read more →]

In a press release today, transatlantic cable operator Hibernia Atlantic announced that it is now offering native 40G wavelengths between Europe and North America.  There have been a few trials before this, Sprint did one late last year over TAT-14, however Hibernia is the first to actually take the technology commercial.  Deploying 40G takes the theoretical maximum capacity of their cable to 10.16Tb/s.   [Read more →]

When Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) announced another sequential revenue decline with its quarterly results two weeks ago, I wondered whether they were losing share or if the malaise was a general one.  Well, it's a general one, as can be seen by the results of the company's largest competitor, Limelight Networks (NASDAQ:LLNW, news, filings).  Limelight also saw a sequential revenue decline, checking in with $32.3M, down from $33.2M in the first quarter.  Add in the lackluster results of the Content Markets division of Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) and Internap's final retreat and write-off, and [Read more →]

q isn't going to bid on the first round of broadband stimulus funds, according to a story in the Denver Business Journal.  The company says that participating under the current rules doesn't make financial sense.  Apparently, the free money isn't so free after all.  Is it ever?  It seems like if anyone could have found a project or two on their own turf that would bring broadband to communities that need it, it ought to be Qwest and its sparsely populated 14 state footprint. [Read more →]

Alongside their earnings report, TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) announced the expansion of their IP VPN to 64 countries around the world.  The company has traditionally focused on those with a regional presence, but as the world becomes interconnected more and more of their potential customers have needs that cross international boundaries.  This new effort will help them serve those of their current customers with international offices better.  Since TW Telecom doesn't have much in the way of international facilities, I wonder who they are partnering with for this. [Read more →]

Yesterday, TelephonyOnline had a great article on the growing gap between those CLECs handling the recession well and those still suffering.  Upon reading it, I wished I had a visual aid showing how each company's revenue has progressed over the last year or two so I could get a better idea of the recession's relative impact on the sector.  There is a tendency by many (myself included) to depend on the words used to characterize each company's performance moreso than the actual data, and so I like to keep grounded now and then.  So I went out and collected the information and produced this chart of relative growth trends since Q1/2008: [Read more →]

National metro fiber and data services provider TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) announced earnings today, once again demonstrating both the steady growth and operational streamlining we almost take for granted now.  Revenues grew 1.2% sequentially to $301.1M from $297.6M in the prior quarter.  As usual, growth came almost entirely from Data and Internet services, while Network and Voice services just held on.  The company discussed elevated churn levels just as frankly as they always do, especially amongst smaller customers.  But when they talk of a headwind slowing them down, they continue to make solid progress against it nevertheless. [Read more →]

Competitive longhaul and metro fiber operator XO Holdings (news, filings) filed their quarterly 10-Q today against the backdrop of Carl Icahn's bid for the common shares he doesn't already own and R2's attempt to slow him down in the courts.  Revenues of $385.6M were up 2% sequentially from $377.8 in the first quarter.  That's quite a strong number for XO at a time when many of its direct competitors are struggling to hold the line in a tough economy.  They did it by [Read more →]

Metro fiber specialist abvt reported earnings this morning, showing why they had the confidence to announce a two-for-one stock split last week.  Revenue of $88.0M grew sequentially from $85.4M in the first quarter despite the recession.  Adjusted EBITDA of $38.5M was also up sequentially from last quarter's unexpectedly high $38.2M.  EBITDA margins fell slightly from 44.7% to 43.8%, but remain above 40% and higher as anyone has any right to expect in this sector.  Earnings per share of $1.95 were, also very strong.  A few more datapoints and we will have to start believing them, eh?   [Read more →]

Upstart internet backbone provider Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI, news, filings) reported earnings on Friday, and managed a pretty good quarter.  Revenues of $58.0M were up $2.9M sequentially, or 5.3% - better than both its own projections and the street's estimates.  There was a positive foreign exchange impact of $0.7M, but overall it was an impressive number given the stagnation Cogent saw for the previous several quarters. On-net revenues were up 4.9%, while off-net and non-core revenues were up 7.0% and 6.6%, pretty much across the board.   [Read more →]

Fiberlight announced that they have raised $13M in debt from CoBank, the first time they have ever accessed the debt markets directly.  The company has been building out heavily in the DC area this year, including a completely new build to Culpeper VA hooking up Terremark's new facility.  The difficulty for smaller players in this space hasn't been finding worthwhile projects, but finding the funding for them.  Fiberlight isn't saying precisely what they will do with the money, but it's no mean feat to raise money these days.  It can be done, but only with [Read more →]

In the hours since Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) reported its fiscal fourth quarter and full year earnings, dozens or perhaps even hundreds of articles have been written parsing every word said by CEO John Chambers, every line on the balance sheet.  As Cisco goes, so goes the recovery, or so the media seems to think.  The key phrase?  We may have, perhaps, possibly, reached the 'tipping point' sometime during the quarter.  It's a lovely phrase, meaning whatever we want it to mean.  It's the kind of phrase CEOs feed us when we demand answers he (or she) doesn't have.   [Read more →]

This is a guest post by Paolo Gorgò, who blogs over at Nortia Research.  Anyone else who might be interested in a guest post may contact the webmaster.

As Rob noticed in his previous article, “Another sequential decline at Akamai”, the company reported both revenues and EPS down from 1Q 2009, for the second time in a row: [Read more →]

IP and colocation services provider Internap Network Services (NASDAQ:INAP, news, filings) reported earnings today, and made some changes that give us a much better idea where new CEO Eric Cooney will be taking the company.  Revenues for the second quarter were $64.4M, the first sequential increase in three quarters and slightly above expectations.  IP revenues held steady, while colocation revenues were the engine of growth.  EBITDA of $6.8M was also a sequential improvement.  Considering the [Read more →]

Telecommunications equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU, news, filings) has had two nice wins in the last two days.  Yesterday the company announced its routers have been selected by NTT Communications (NYSE:NTT, news, filings) to support Japan's first MPLS-based IPv6 IP-VPN service.  NTT has been on the forefront of the IPv6 movement, especially in Japan where it is really starting to take hold.  Enterprise customers there now have a migration path for when IPv4 addresses run out, or perhaps more precisely [Read more →]

Competitive local exchange carrier PAETEC (news, filings) reported earnings this morning, showing some wear and tear from the economy but nothing terribly major.  Revenues of $395.2M were down sequentially from $399.8M in the first quarter.  According to the company, revenue pressure came primarily from usage based POTS service and access fees, while data services managed to grow a bit.  Economic pressures may be easing, but they are definitely still out there.   The company pointed simply toward fewer business calls being made by fewer employees, i.e. a direct effect of the increased jobless rate. [Read more →]

In the latest installment of the saga of XO Holdings (news, filings) and Carl Icahn, R2 Investments sent a following letter to the 'independent' directors of XO Holdings.  Reading this letter is an entirely different experience from the PR we have to wade through every day.  It was clearly put together with great care, dripping with sarcasm, anger, and a certain resignation.  I find R2's speculation about how Icahn's offer will proceed and evolve over [Read more →]

In what some will see as a somewhat surreal event, metro fiber specialist abvt announced yesterday that they will effect a two-for-one  stock split on August 20 in the form of a 100% stock dividend.  They just got listed on the NYSE back in May after an epic crawl out of the MFN bankruptcy back in the last bubble.  The company's stock has been trading in the neighborhood of $80 despite the economic turbulence, so they certainly have the room to pull it off.  The market has welcomed them back, and hence the split.  But having this particular company doing it while the rest [Read more →]

Yonder Media and surw announced today that Yonder has acquired the fixed wireless customer base of SureWest.  SureWest has been selling off all the bits and pieces of its wireless business over the last few years, preferring to focus on its wired efforts.  One has to wonder though about the press releases.  At 3:53pm they 'entered into an agreement' and at 5:52pm they had 'completed the sale'.  Two hours?  You can't even close on a house in two hours most of the time, nor can most companies write a PR that fast.  Not that it matters [Read more →]