Today's Top Stories Accenture on Monday acquired Nokia Siemens Networks' IPTV software, a move that will immediately enhance the systems integration and services company's over-the-top video capabilities with a broader set of integration and software components. Neither Accenture nor Nokia Siemens Networks disclosed the amount of the deal. Nokia Siemens Networks' IPTV software and related assets will be integrated with Accenture's over-the-top Video Solution, one that it says "enables companies to launch new over-the-top TV and services quickly and economically while reducing the initial costs of IT and infrastructure set-up." Accenture already has a broad set of customers for its Video Solution, and it will now be able to add to its video capabilities a full suite of technology integration services for any vendor and any video platform. These service providers can then enable their respective users to access video services over their broadband networks and on any device, including everything from wireless smart phones and tablets to personal computers and TV sets. "The combination of Nokia Siemens Networks' IPTV assets with Accenture's over-the-top TV software and capabilities, will deliver an exciting new combination of services to the global video industry," said Marco Vernocchi, managing director of Accenture's Media & Entertainment industry group, in a release announcing the purchase. "The scalable and flexible end solution we are creating will help video service providers dramatically change the way they approach content distribution while balancing costs." And for Nokia Siemens Networks, this sale signals yet another move the Finnish-based company has made to divest more wireline-related assets as it refocuses its attention on the mobile network industry. Following the sale of its access unit to ADTRAN (Nasdaq: ADTN) in addition to the sale of WiMAX business to Skyview's NewNet late last year, this is the third asset that Nokia Siemens Networks has sold off in the past year. More recently, Nokia Siemens Networks confirmed it's trying to sell off its OSS/BSS business, with Ericsson--which earlier this year acquired Telcordia--rumored to be a potential suitor. However, Nokia Siemens Networks has yet to confirm any rumors about who is actually interested in making an offer on the OSS/BSS unit. For more:
- see the release
- Reuters has this article Related articles:
Accenture snaps up Nokia Siemens' IPTV assets
Sale signs: Nokia Siemens offloading BSS; Vivendi eyes multiple assets
Nokia Siemens Networks appoints Samih Elhage as COO
ADTRAN snaps up Nokia Siemens Networks' wireline broadband access unit Read more about: IPTV
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AT&T (NYSE: T) has put the finishing touches on Subsea 7's global IP VPN network upgrade, one that will cover over 30 of the company's worldwide sites. Subsea 7, a seabed-to-surface engineering, construction and services contractor to the global offshore energy industry, was driven to upgrade its network because it needed to consolidate all of its sites following its merger with Acergy last year. Subsea 7's global network with AT&T spans various countries, including Australia, Brazil, Norway, the United States, Britain and Singapore. By connecting the sites on one unified network that will serve over 12,000 employees worldwide, Subsea 7 said it "has enabled employees to work more collaboratively and productively, providing access to shared resources and business-critical enterprise applications across the organisation." This contract is another proof point that AT&T is becoming a bigger competitive force in the global IP-based services market. Since 2007, the service provider has had a long-standing relationship with Subsea 7, providing WAN, hosting and global VPN services. In Vertical Systems Group's (VSG) recent Global Ethernet Leaderboard, AT&T took the No. 5 spot, behind European-based players Colt (Nasdaq: COLT) and BT (NYSE: BT). Rosemary Cochran, principal of VSG, said in an interview with FierceTelecom it's important for carriers like AT&T that want to be major international service providers to have network reach into key countries. "AT&T has some plans for expansion and partnerships to get them a stronger international presence," she said. "They are pretty good in Europe and parts of Asia, but China and South America are the growth areas." AT&T's emphasis on IP/VPN and Ethernet services, in particular, were evident in its Q2 2012 business services results. Although the telco's overall business services declined 1.5 percent year-over-year to $9.1 billion, a factor it said was a result of declining legacy ATM and Frame Relay revenues as more companies migrate to IP/MPLS-based VPNs and Ethernet, strategic business services (i.e., Ethernet and cloud services) rose 13.5 percent year-over-year. For more:
- see the release Special report: Wireline in the second quarter of 2012 Related articles:
AT&T's Q2 wireline growth driven by U-verse, next-gen business services
AT&T leads U.S. Ethernet sales, Vertical Systems Group says
Orange remains dominant global Ethernet player, says Vertical Systems Group
U-verse drives AT&T wireline business
AT&T, CWA hammer out tentative wireline labor agreements Read more about: AT&T
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BT (NYSE: BT) on Monday won a $100 million global managed services deal with British American Tobacco, illustrating that it can effectively compete in the growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) segment. This is a large deal of the type BT Global is accustomed to serving via its broad reach into a wide set of global regions. It also helps increase the profile of the CPG Group, which is now run by Kim McMann. While BT Global has been serving a number of markets including North America, she has set a goal of upping the group's presence and brand recognition in those regions. The service provider will oversee the management of British American Tobacco's global Wide Area Network (WAN), including remote access, network security and third-party service provider management across 1,000 sites in 119 countries. With the IP-based network, BT said British American Tobacco will be able to prioritize various types of traffic according to its business needs while reducing total cost of ownership of its communications infrastructure. Phil Colman, CIO for British American Tobacco, said one of the deciding factors that led British American Tobacco to BT was its global reach "and in-country resources, particularly in the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions." Asia Pacific and Latin America have become hotbeds of competition in the global managed and IP services market. Over the past year, BT has been continually expanding its Ethernet and overall network presence in various international regions, including Asia Pacific, EMEA, Latin America and the United States. BT's expansion efforts, which include a mix of its own network builds and key partnerships with other carriers in each region where it provides service, has also helped BT up its presence as an international Ethernet player. On Vertical Systems Group's (VSG) Global Ethernet Leaderboard issued in August, the service provider advanced from the seventh spot, where it sat in the ranking put out in March, to the No. 4 spot. Rosemary Cochran, principal of VSG, said the ability of service providers like BT to serve multiple sites in various geographic locations will be a factor that will set it and others apart from the pack in the global services market segment. "In the Ethernet structure, having the VPN capabilities globally and truly globally with expansion definitely makes a difference," she said. However, Cochran was quick to add that any service provider that is mainly serving Europe will face challenges.
"With Europe's financial problems, any of those carriers that were relying predominantly on the trans-European markets were a bit more challenged than if you had a global infrastructure where multinationals are looking at expanding all over the world," she said. "Obviously, Europe is still a major area, but if you're in Asia, South America and the Middle East and you're expanding in those areas, and that's what we're seeing with BT." For more:
- see the release Special report: 2012 Women in Wireline Related articles:
BT reports 6% revenue dip; profits climb
BT Openreach adds 98 locations to its last mile fiber network
BT's cost-cutting, broadband service drive 3% earnings rise in fiscal Q4
BT hopes to attract more subscribers with 6 month free broadband bundle Read more about: Carrier Ethernet
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CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) on Monday decided to cancel a tender offer by its Qwest Communications subsidiary and a concurrent public offering of its senior debt securities, a move that was supposed to extend the life and reduce the interest rate of its current debt and pay down debt. In a press release, Qwest said it is "terminating the tender offer because it has determined that the financing condition is unlikely to be satisfied." The Qwest Communications division initially planned to purchase for cash its $800 million of the 7.125 percent notes due in 2018 for $1,069.47 per $1,000 principal amount of notes. The offer would have expired on Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. EST. As reported by Dow Jones, CenturyLink was going to use the proceeds from the offering, in addition to available cash or borrowings under its revolving credit facility, to provide Qwest with the funds it needed to complete the offer and redeem on Oct. 26 all $550 million of its 8 percent notes that were due in 2015. Now, Qwest plans to fund this redemption with available funds from CenturyLink's existing revolving credit facility. J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC and RBC Capital Markets, LLC were the dealer managers for the offer. This abandoned offering followed another quarter where CenturyLink, like its fellow ILEC brethren AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) saw strong gains in next-gen IP-based business and consumer services like Ethernet and IPTV amidst ongoing declines in legacy TDM-based voice services. In Q2 2012, CenturyLink reported that net income was $403 million, down from $428 million in Q2 2011. However, on the business services side, the company's acquisition of the former Savvis, a cloud and data center provider, contributed $278 million of revenue to the company. For more:
- See the offering release
- And the cancellation release
- Dow Jones has this article Special report: Wireline in the second quarter of 2012 Related articles:
CenturyLink Q2 revenue rises to $4.61B with increased broadband, business service sales
CenturyLink extends North Carolina fiber network to 5 data centers
Savvis pays $7M for pieces of Ciber IT outsourcing business
FCC's Connect America Funding initiative leaves 13 states in the cold Read more about: CenturyLink
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Zayo Group on Tuesday wrapped up its acquisition of the remaining piece of USCarrier Telecom (USCarrier), a service provider that it initially gained a 50 percent stake in following its acquisition of American Fiber Systems (AFS) in 2010. As previously announced, Zayo paid $15.9 million for USCarrier, a figure that includes $2.3 million to retire USCarrier's outstanding debt. The service provider said it funded the acquisition of USCarrier with cash on hand. By acquiring USCarrier, Zayo deepens its fiber network presence in the Southeast United States with an additional 3,700-mile regional fiber network that connects a number of key markets including Atlanta, Jacksonville, Fla., Tallahassee, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., and Chattanooga, Tenn.
But this transaction isn't just about the NFL cities alone. In addition to the Tier 1 markets, USCarrier has a presence in 40 other smaller cities and towns such as Macon and Savannah, Ga., and Mobile and Montgomery, Ala. What's more, Zayo will be able to use USCarrier assets to extend connectivity into Nashville, a market where it already has network presence. "At this point--and really over the course of its life--each new fiber network acquisition operated by Zayo plugs another hole in its reach and depth," said Craig Clausen, executive vice president of New Paradigm Resources Group, Inc. (NPRG), in an e-mail to FierceTelecom. "USCarrier has nice reach throughout the SE--an important economic region." Clausen added that "there's a fair amount of fiber deployment by smaller niche entities going on in this area too (i.e., Blue Ridge Mountain EMC - brmemc.com) that will provide further opportunities for Zayo." This acquisition provides benefits to both existing USCarrier and Zayo customers. Existing USCarrier customers will be able to offer additional Ethernet and wavelength transport services in addition to expanding other services such as IP-based services and wholesale dark fiber. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Zayo wraps up integration of AboveNet's network
UPDATED: Zayo wraps up FiberGate acquisition
Zayo adds capacity to its Spokane-to-Portland route
Zayo acquires remaining piece of USCarrier for $13.5M
Zayo adds more fiber to its Las Vegas network Read more about: Zayo
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