Today's Top Stories China Telecom is one of many incumbent telcos finding new life in their copper plant by completing a VDSL2 with vectoring trial with Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) in Foshan, a city in Guangdong province in southern China. During the trial, China Telecom tested Alcatel-Lucent's ISAM-based end-to-end System Level Vectoring solution, including the 7302 ISAM and G.vector customer premises equipment (CPE). Although China Telecom has been an advocate of fiber to the premises (FTTP), VDSL2 vectoring can provide complementary higher speeds to its existing DSL customer base. The service provider's move to expand broadband speeds over its existing copper networks will also help it fulfill the government's "China Broadband" initiative, which aims to bring broadband connections to over 250 million urban and rural homes by 2015. Alcatel-Lucent's agreement with China Telecom also illustrates the vendor's ongoing momentum in the VDSL2 vectoring market segment. To date, 11 service providers are deploying its VDSL2 vectoring solutions, while over 40 are involved in trials. Besides its work with China Telecom and AT&T (NYSE: T) in the United States, much of Alcatel-Lucent's VDSL2 vectoring momentum has been seen in Europe where it is in the midst of various deployments and trials with large Tier 1 telcos including Belgacom, TDC Denmark, Telekom Austria and Türk Telekom. While VDSL2 with vectoring is still arguably a nascent concept, a Broadband Trends report forecast that 27 percent of global VDSL2 ports will be vectored by 2017. For more:
- see the release Special report: The 10 hottest wireline technologies in 2013 Related articles:
ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent, others participate in VDSL2 plugfest at Univ. of New Hampshire
VDSL2 with bonding or vectoring - Top wireline technologies in 2013
Deutsche Telekom lays out $39B FTTC, wireless broadband plan
Alcatel-Lucent's Verwaayen steps down as its turnaround battle continues Read more about: vectoring, China Telecom
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Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) is making a formal move to acquire Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Mediaroom IPTV business, giving it a 25 a percent market share in the IPTV market segment. The announcement confirms rumors that emerged March 28 in a Bloomberg report citing "people with knowledge of the matter" that the Swedish company was negotiating a deal to buy Mediaroom. Per Borgklint, senior vice president and head of business unit support solutions for Ericsson, said that by acquiring Mediaroom, the company "will add over 40 customers, serving over 11 million subscriber households." Having a strong foothold in the mobile and wireline markets worldwide, Ericsson will be able to market its expanded IPTV product portfolio to existing telco customers such as AT&T (NYSE: T) U-verse and over-the-top providers like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). Purchasing Mediarooom has its challenges, however. Although Mediaroom has been a flagship IPTV platform, BT (NYSE: BT) last year replaced it with Comcast's (Nasdaq: CMCSA) thePlatform in mid-March to drive its BT Vision and YouView IPTV services. Regardless of its loss of BT, Mediaroom is still the middleware platform of choice for over 40 large telcos, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Telus (Toronto: T.TO) and Swisscom. In total, Mediaroom TV services are offered on over than 22 million set top boxes deployed in three key regions: the Americas, EMEA and APAC. It also has gained favor in tier two telcos such as TDS Telecom (NYSE: TDS), which replaced its Minerva platform with Mediaroom in January. Set be closed in the second half of this year, when Mediaroom will be incorporated into Ericsson's Business Unit Support Solutions. For more:
- see the release Special Report: The top wireline mergers & acquisitions in 2012 Related articles:
Rumor mill: Ericsson looking to buy Microsoft's IPTV business
Telus employs Ericsson's compression solution for its Optik IPTV service
BT moves onto thePlatform to drive its IPTV services
TDS turns on Microsoft Mediaroom for its fledgling IPTV service Read more about: Microsoft, Acquisition
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Updated: Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is planning to expand its "Fiber" project to Austin, Texas, according to a report in VentureBeat. Google and the city of Austin are planning to make an announcement on April 9 that "will have a positive impact on Austinites and the future of the city"--a VentureBeat report said the announcement involves Google brining its Internet service to the city. AT&T (NYSE: T) has a big presence in Austin with U-verse and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) also operates in the city as well, according to the FCC's broadband map. Google Fiber launched in Kansas City last year, offering residents 1 Gbps Internet connections for $70 per month (Google is currently waiving the $300 installation fee). Google also offers Internet and TV service for $120 a month and "free" Internet service (after a $300 installation fee) that provides speeds of around 5 Mbps. With the Kansas City offering, Google is taking on established incumbent cable operators Time Warner Cable and AT&T (NYSE: T) in the area, which have their own triple-play service offerings over existing HFC and hybrid copper/fiber last-mile networks. Moreover, it appears that Google Fiber is a hit with residents in Kansas City. According to a new survey from Ideas & Solutions! Inc., 60 percent of the qualified population in Kansas City is interested in using the service. That Google is reportedly expanding its Fiber project beyond Kansas City is not really a surprise. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt late last year said the company does not see the Google Fiber network in Kansas City as an experiment but the seed of a much larger opportunity they could replicate in other markets. "It's actually not an experiment; we're actually running it as a business," he said, noting that it has enticed a number of new startups with high bandwidth needs to locate their offices where the fiber has been installed with plans to bring it "hopefully more cities." For more:
- see this VentureBeat article Related Articles:
The contenders: Google Fiber
Google's Schmidt: Kansas City is just one stop on FTTH journey
Google Fiber a hit with eligible subscribers in Kansas City, survey says Updated: We mistakenly reported that Comcast and Verizon offers DOCSIS and FiOS services in Austin. Read more about: Google, Google Fiber
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TDS Telecom (NYSE: TDS) has begun building two more of its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) broadband stimulus projects in Kentucky and Mississippi, bringing broadband services to nearly 1,200 users. Delivered via TDS subsidiary Southeast Mississippi Telephone Company, the project around Leaksville, Miss. will bring broadband services to about 600 customers by the end of the year. Construction partner MasTec North America, Inc., will complete outside work, while TDS will complete inside work. Serving about 550 customers around the Salem, Ky., area, TDS subsidiary Salem Telephone Company will also begin delivering services to customers by the end of 2013. For the Kentucky project TDS hired CCI Systems, Inc., which will complete outside work, and TDS will complete inside work. The service provider received a total of 44 ARRA grants to extend broadband service to residential and business customers in 20 states. In addition to Kentucky and Mississippi, the provider has invited telecom contractors to bid on broadband stimulus projects in four other states including Colorado, Idaho, Tennessee and Washington. Cindy Tomlinson, a spokeswoman for TDS Telecom, told FierceTelecom in a previous interview that "construction is underway on 37 of the 44 projects TDS received ARRA funding for," adding that they "expect to turn up services in nearly all of the remaining markets throughout 2013." For more:
- see the release Related articles
UPDATED: TDS nears completion of Chatham, Mich.-area broadband stimulus project
TDS Telecom begins construction on its first broadband stimulus project
TDS invites telecom contractors to bid on broadband stimulus projects in Idaho, Tenn., and Wash.
TDS invites construction companies to make bids for Colo. broadband project Read more about: Broadband, Tds Telecom
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Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) may be the latest suitor interested in purchasing an 80 percent stake in Reliance's Globalcom subsidiary for INR 60 billion (USD 1.09 billion), according to unnamed sources. As reported in the Times of India, Reliance would like to use a potential sale of the Globalcom assets in addition to a $221 million deal to provide dark fiber for Reliance Industries' proposed 4G wireless network as a way to pay down more of its $7 billion of debt. The service provider has had a tough time selling off its assets to pay down debts. Last July, it decided not to pursue an initial public offering of its Flag Telecom submarine cable unit due to what it says were "unfavorable" market conditions. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Reliance Globacom would retain a 20 percent stake in the company for the first year after the deal is closed with the option to sell that portion. Meanwhile, the Reliance Group's presence in the company would only be as an investor. Officials from Reliance Group did not respond to the Times of India's request for comment. A spokesperson for Batelco later issued a statement, saying, "As we have informed the press in the past, there can be no certainty that any interest we expresses [sic] to Reliance Group will lead to a transaction. A further announcement will be made in due to course if appropriate." Unnamed sources told the Times that the deal would is expected to be announced by the end of May. If a deal does go through, Batelco would gain a far-reaching set of network assets, including a 65,000 km subsea telecommunications infrastructure network, enterprise services subsidiary Yipes in the United States, virtual network services provider Vanco in the UK, and Flag Telecom. Last week, Batelco activated its Hawk submarine cable, giving it another 20 Tbps of capacity between Europe, the Middle East and India, as well as an alternate landing point on Cyprus. For more:
- The Times of India has this article
- NDTV Online has this update Related articles:
Reliance abandons IPO for FLAG submarine cable unit
Reliance IPO route to sell FLAG submarine unit not without challenges
Report: Reliance Globalcom could sell stake in its FLAG cable system
Reliance Globalcom employs Ciena for 40 Gbps submarine connection Read more about: Acquisition Target, Batelco
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The 10 highest paid executives in wireless in 2012
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