Telecom Ramblings

This article was authored by Dylan Bushell-Embling, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

A US congressman has introduced a new bill that would ban US government agencies from purchasing telecoms equipment, devices and services from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE. [Read more →]

Here's a bit more consolidation activity for the start of this week, this time over in Europe.  The UK-based pan-European network operator RETN has  announced the completion of a deal for OPTRON SIA. [Read more →]

There was apparently a bit of fiber consolidation over New Year's that managed to slip quietly under the radar until now.  Although there has been no formal PR yet, an alert reader kindly pointed me to the following lines from Cogeco's quarterly report for the three months ending November 30, 2017: [Read more →]

euNetworks officially has a new majority owner.  Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners has successfully closed its purchase of a majority stake in the pan-European network operator, joining Columbia Capital who will be staying on with a material interest. [Read more →]

Later this month the leaders of the metro fiber industry will gather for its annual bash down in Miami Beach known as Metro Connect. It has always been one of my favorite events, for what goes on both at the podium and away from it. [Read more →]

In today's roundup, two small M&As worth noting and a network expansion: [Read more →]

A Bloomberg report yesterday claims that Akamai is working with Morgan Stanley to explore strategic alternatives.  On the table, apparently, is a sale of the company.  To whom, though?   [Read more →]

It looks like the transatlantic bandwidth markets will be getting another new cable system in a couple of years.  A consortium that includes Aqua Comms, Bulk Infrastructure, and Facebook has tapped TE SubCom as supplier for the HAVFRUE cable system.  HAVFRUE is the Danish word for 'mermaid', which is inevitably what it will be referred to affectionately in English since we aren't quite sure how to pronounce (or spell) 'havfrue'. [Read more →]

Lumos Networks is expanding its enterprise focus to include another market along its northwestern border.  They have launched the Mid-Ohio Valley as the company's 27th enterprise market, following up on a win there recently with Marietta's Memorial Health System. [Read more →]

Four bits of news touching on the European markets worth noting this morning: [Read more →]

GTT has been a busy consolidator lately, and they have kicked off 2018 with another purchase.  They have announced the acquisition of Custom Connect, expanding their IP and low latency capabilities in the EMEA region. [Read more →]

Last week we had our two annual January M&A polls looking at the most likely acquirers and acquirees of 2018.  I can't say I disagree much with with the emerging results.   [Read more →]

This article was authored by Allan Tan, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

The best IoT message bandwidth planning may not survive the first contact with real-world data as IoT System Integrators (SIs) and network planners face the challenge of developing a project concept while at the same time anticipating [Read more →]

If you're on the east coast like me, keep warm.  Here's a quick roundup of some news from this week, with some 5G spadework and a bunch of new management appointments. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Mark Lederman, Sr. Director Product Mgt, Synchronoss

Telco data for advertising holds extraordinary promise for brands. As a mobile carrier, if you aren’t using your wealth of data – particularly location data – to help companies drive more effective, targeted advertising, you’re missing out: missing out on [Read more →]

On Tuesday we asked who the likely targets of consolidation will be in 2018.  Today we reverse the question and ask who the likely strategic buyers of network infrastructure are in 2018.  Who has both the appetite and the financial wherewithal to make some deals this year? [Read more →]

Another network operator has joined the SD-WAN party.  Zayo has launched its own solution, which complements the existing WAN solutions in the company's existing portfolio. [Read more →]

Here's a few news items from just this morning back through the start of the holiday break, just to catch things up a bit: [Read more →]

This article was authored by Fiona Chau, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

India’s Reliance Communications (RCom) has signed an agreement to sell its telecoms infrastructure assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm, for a total value of nearly 240 billion rupees ($3.75 billion), Reuters reported. [Read more →]

Happy New Year!  It is time to take the pulse of M&A in the world of network operators once again.  Let's start off with who Telecom Ramblings readers think are the most likely targets of consolidation.  Which network operators do you think are most likely to get bought this year?  Last year, three of the top five (Lightower, Lumos, and Wilcon) picked by readers did in fact change hands.  [Read more →]

There was a bit of M&A that apparently came out between Christmas and New Year's this year that is worth notice.  According to Fierce Telecom and an FCC Filing, Windstream has quietly agreed to acquire MassComm in an all-cash transaction. [Read more →]

2017 is about to end, and we will all kick off 2018 this Sunday night. As exhausting as this year has been overall, it seems unusually difficult to guess what is ahead of us. But let's try anyway. Here my predictions: [Read more →]

After the flurry of activity ending 2016, I expected 2017 to be a bit more relaxed on the network M&A front given how many deals were already pending and awaiting integration. To an extent that was true, but although a few big players were indeed busy elsewhere others filled in the gaps. Interestingly, like last year, if a network provider was involved in one M&A they were often/usually [Read more →]