Telecom Ramblings

Yesterday a reader left a comment which asked whether the lack of M&A activity by the likes of AboveNet, Cogent, and tw telecom risks being passed by more aggressive acquirers, specifically Level 3 and Zayo. I think that the answer to this question is not so straightforward. It is both human and corporate nature to [Read more →]

National metro operator abvt said today that its board of directors has authorized a share buyback program of up to $200M throuh the end of next year. It’s not as if they aren’t *trying* to spend it all on expansions of course, since they’ve been averaging capex of more than 30% of revenue for some time now.  [Read more →]

Network equipment specialist cien gave us our latest window into how the equipment sector is faring as it reported its fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2011 results, which means up through the end of October.  It has now been 6 quarters since the company bought Nortel’s MEN division and the second in a row that they reported positive adjusted earnings per share, although Ciena has been in the doghouse with investors since June’s earnings report.  Here’s a quick table of the relevant numbers in context: [Read more →]

As I figured they do if they could, clwr has expanded the size of its public offering to $350M from its initial $300M goal. oversubscription, the usual 15%. The shares have now also been priced at [Read more →]

With all those smartphones and tablets out there enabling people to do all sorts of things they’ve never done before on a mobile device, you’d think people would be happier with their wireless carriers than they were last year.  But according to a Consumer Reports survey out today, it’s just not so. [Read more →]

I will be updating my metro fiber and on-net building list over the next week or two, so if there’s data that anyone out there thinks ought to be included please send it along.  In the meantime, here’s a quick look at a few items in the metro fiber space over the past few days: [Read more →]

Just when you thought the telecom M&A scene was winding down for the year, Minnesota-based htco is getting one in for the holidays. HickoryTech is spending $28M in cash to acquire North Dakota’s IdeaOne Telecom, which operates a metro fiber network in Fargo. HickoryTech’s Enventis subsidiary expanded westward into [Read more →]

Let’s take a quick look at some news from the gear-makers lately: [Read more →]

Following quickly on the heels of the closing of the PAETEC deal, win has a new network map on its website illustrating the newly unified asset base and LEC coverage areas.  It brings together the combined footprints of [Read more →]

WiMAX operator and LTE hopeful clwr is wasting no time following up on last week’s financing deal with s. Clearwire said yesterday that it intends to sell up to $300M of its class A common stock in a public offering, with an additional $45M on tap for overflows. Of course, I strongly suspect [Read more →]

Today modular data center operator and manufacturer IO made an interesting move, offering its IO OS data center operating system as a standalone software product. Originally designed for its modular IO Anywhere product, the software also offers intelligent control of [Read more →]

This article was authored by John Tanner, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

This time last year, Ethernet exchanges were a fresh topic at Carrier Ethernet World Asia, promising easy interconnection of Ethernet services between service providers. One year later, at least one major carrier – Cable & Wireless Worldwide – is not impressed. [Read more →]

On Friday, Time Warner, Comcast, and Bright House announced an agreement to sell their spectrum to Verizon for $3.6B. The 122 AWS spectrum licenses, held by the SpectrumCo joint venture, give Verizon’s already vast spectrum holdings a boost that will help it meet LTE data demands for quite some time.  Meanwhile, Comcast and Time Warner will also be [Read more →]

Back in July, a previously unknown outfit named Emerald Atlantis picked TE SubCom to help build a brand new 100x100Gbps transatlantic cable system. This fall, the company has rebranded itself as Emerald Networks, hired a CEO and CFO, and today it formally launched its effort, aiming for completion in the Spring of 2013. [Read more →]

zayo never wastes time closing acquisitions, so it came as no surprise to me that the company announced this morning that its purchase of 360Networks is already a done deal. The combined company has an annualized run rate of [Read more →]

TGIF, is it December already? Here’s a quick look at a few more items from the metro space this week: [Read more →]

After the FCC’s unambiguous challenge to the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile last week, AT&T’s strategic retreat and rumors of a divestment package, and everything that has gone under the bridge since the deal was announced last march, it’s time for another poll. What do you think, is the merger now fully DOA or are there chapters left to write? [Read more →]

They took it down to the wire, but s and clwr have made peace again. Clearwire will make the $237M debt payment that they had threatened to default on, and Sprint has offered them up to $1.6B in funding and payments for services, although not all at once and with strings attached of course.  [Read more →]

It’s official, win is now a national super-CLEC. Today they closed their purchase of paet in a $2.3B stock deal, bringing the competitive service provider’s $2B in annual revenue under their wing. Of course, Windstream’s earlier purchases of Nuvox and KDL/Norlight had already taken them quite a distance down this road, but PAETEC gives them a much, much larger presence outside of their ILEC footprint. [Read more →]

For the last month and a half, the media has likened the Sprint/Clearwire soap opera to a variety of games – baseball, global thermonuclear war, and of course chess. Now I’m a chess player, and these guys are not playing chess. [Read more →]

On Monday I posted the my updated relative valuations chart for Q3, and here is the followup with a look at the rest of the data showing the latest trends in Revenue Growth, EBITDA Margin, and Capex as a percentage of revenue. [Read more →]

Taking a break from its merger travails back in the USA, t deepened its relationships in the largest market in the world today. cha and AT&T have signed a strategic framework agreement aimed at better serving the needs of multinational customers. [Read more →]

Time to catch up on interesting international news items this week.

In the Pacific, independent operator Pacnet followed through on its content delivery plans, launching the Pacnet CDN. The company partnered with [Read more →]