Today's Top Stories Zayo is giving its carrier and enterprise customers located in the Las Vegas area a new entry point onto its broader IP network by upgrading its core and metro transport rings. Leveraging its expanded set of IP assets, including those it purchased from American Fiber Systems (AFS) and MarquisNET within Las Vegas, Zayo will be able to provide a wider range of services such as 10G IP-based solutions. Another added benefit of the upgrade is that it will provide, Zayo says, better IP performance and capacity management. Max Clauson, vice president of Zayo's IP Product group, said the investment in Las Vegas supports the "continued expansion of our relationships with content, gaming and enterprise customers." Zayo's Las Vegas customers will also be able to access its Tier 1 IP backbone it acquired from AboveNet last year, which reaches 270 markets across the United States and Europe. But its move in Vegas could be replicated in other markets it entered via the acquisition of smaller fiber service providers. While it did not give an exact timeline, Zayo said that it will continue to expand "direct access to its IP backbone into additional markets across its network." Zayo has been extending its network presence into a number other local markets, including Baltimore and Jacksonville, through its acquisitions of Litecast and USCarrier assets. Its regional growth strategy is paying off. The service provider said its expansion into the Washington, D.C., area, the Southeast, the Northeast and Midwest drove up fiscal Q2 revenues to $243.5 million.  | Map of Zayo lit fiber in Las Vegas. (Source: Zayo Group) | For more:
- see the release Special report: The top wireline mergers & acquisitions in 2012 Related articles:
Zayo's national 100G network to offer wavelength services, diversity in key PoPs
Zayo wraps up FiberGate acquisition
Zayo's fiber network is now connected to 10,000 buildings
Zayo acquires regional service provider First Telecom Read more about: 10G, Las Vegas
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France Telecom-Orange España, France Telecom's subsidiary serving Spain, has debuted fiber to the home (FTTH) services near the La Vaguada shopping center and a new set of fiber-based service tariffs. The new service, which costs €25.95 ($33.94) per month, offers plenty of elements for eligible customers. Under the new plan, customers will receive a service bundle that includes 100 Mbps speeds, unlimited national wireline voice calling, 1,000 minutes of wireless calls to national mobile numbers, and 300 minutes for calls to 60 international countries.A similar tariff is available with the same features at 25 Mbps for €15.95 ($21.00) a month. After expanding its network to La Vaguada, Orange said that 40,000 homes in Madrid can access its FTTH services, while passing another 58,000 premises in Catalonia and Asturias. Orange España is an aggressive purveyor of FTTH. Last month, it announced a €1 billion ($1.3 billion) partnership with Vodafone Spain to build a joint FTTH network covering 50 of Spain's major cities. By March 2014, the joint fiber network will be available to 800,000 premises, which will rise to 3 million by September 2015 and 6 million by 2017. Although Spain's FTTH market is still arguably nascent, adoption is rising. Spain's telecom regulator Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT) reported 53.6 percent of the 42,380 new broadband subscriptions added in December were FTTH.
Of course, France Telecom-Orange and Vodafone will continue to see plenty of competition from Spain's incumbent telco Telefonica. Telefonica, reports Reuters, will begin offering consumers a 100 Mbps FTTH offer for €30 ($39.17) a month for the first year next Monday. For more:
- TeleGeography has this article
- Reuters has this article Related articles:
Vodafone, Orange to roll out joint FTTH network in Spain
Vodafone, Orange strike €1B deal on Spanish fibre network
Copper still in fashion despite speed allure of FTTH
ABI Research: FTTH costs giving telcos pause Read more about: France Telecom
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Bell Canada (NYSE: BCE) is extending its ISP capabilities beyond connectivity by bringing McAfee security services to its end-users. Branded as McAfee Security from Bell, the new service will provide a set of online security services including virus, spyware and malware protection, and is compatible with Windows and Mac systems. The service provider said that Bell Internet customers will be transferred to one of three security service tiers: Good, Better or Best. Under this structure, customers who already use free Bell Internet security will get the Good package at no extra charge, while other Bell Internet customers with enhanced security services will be moved to the corresponding Better and Best security packages for CAD 5 (USD 4.93) and CAD 10 (USD 9.86), respectively. Depending on the package, Bell Internet will offer various other security features such as SiteAdvisor, smartphone and tablet protection (BlackBerry and Android), encrypted storage, and parental controls featuring social network monitoring, program blocking, YouTube content filtering, and activity reports. Providing enhanced services like online security via partners such as McAfee has benefits to both Bell Canada and its customer base. For Bell, the service adds another element from a partner that already understands computer security it can use to further its bond with the customer at a time when cable operators continue to upgrade speeds and capabilities. Likewise, providing McAfee services plays into the idea that outside of the most technology savvy user, most consumers typically don't have the time or take the time to stay on top of making sure their equipment has been equipped with up to date security software. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Bell Canada gets Competition Bureau clearance for Astral acquisition
Canada's CRTC reveals wholesale rates for competitive ISPs
Bell Canada's net earnings jump 45 percent; wireline losses improve, TV coverage grows Read more about: Bell Canada
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Frontier Communications (Nasdaq: FTR), which became West Virginia's largest service provider when it purchased Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) rural lines in 2010, has received the state senate's backing for its proposal to target broadband rollouts at consumers who have no service at all. A new bill that was revised by the Senate on Wednesday, reports The Charleston Gazette, requires the Broadband Deployment Council to allocate state funds to service providers that are offering broadband services to cities and towns "for the first time" versus those that are upping Internet speeds that have existing service.
The Broadband Deployment Council has over $2 million it will dole out to various service providers to expand broadband service. "The highest-need areas will get money first," said Sen. Robert Plymale, D-Wayne, who introduced the amendment Wednesday. Sen. Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, who voted for the amendment, said that the funds should target the estimated 85,000 households in West Va. still can't get Internet service. "The Broadband Council should focus on households that don't have broadband right now, not on upgrading homes that already have it," Carmichael said. "It's not speed. It's access." However, no everyone thinks this is the best solution. A number of senators said they need to ensure that users can get higher speeds and quality, adding that the amendment will only provide services only a minority of homes at a much higher cost. Since completing its acquisition of Verizon's rural lines in 2010, Frontier said it has spent a lot of capital to bring broadband access to 158,000 additional households in West Virginia. Last November, Frontier was reimbursed $29 million for making broadband and wireline telephone network upgrades in West Virginia. This comes on the heels of plans where it would start delivering up to 25 Mbps DSL services to 405,000 West Virginia residential and business customers. Eligible business customers would be able to get up to 40 Mbps speeds. For more:
- The Charleston Gazette has this article Related articles:
Frontier's Starr: Broadband service available in 85% of existing markets this year
Frontier Q4 revenues decline to $1.23 billion on subscriber losses
Frontier protests West Virginia broadband program grants
Frontier invests $75 million in Washington's broadband, business networks Read more about: Broadband, Frontier Communications
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CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and CyrusOne (Nasdaq: CONE), two service providers that have been broadening their presence in the data center market, have separately signed deals with Ingram Micro to sell its colocation space to clients. Although CenturyLink and CyrusOne approach the data center market differently, they both gain one common benefit: scale. Ingram, which plans on pursuing other arrangements with other cloud and data center providers, currently has relationships with 1,700 vendors access to a global customer base of more than 200,000 resellers in approximately 160 countries. Renee Bergeron, vice president of managed services and cloud computing for Ingram Micro, said in a Channel Partners article that its agreements to add services from providers such as CenturyLink and CyrusOne reflects the notion that cloud services are combining both telecom and IT channels. "It's a matter of survival" for VARs to include connectivity with cloud, Bergeron said, adding that by being able to provision both IT and network services through Ingram Micro cuts complexity for partners. For more:
- see the release
- Channel Partners has this article
Related articles:
CenturyLink's 4Q shines with growth in IPTV, enterprise services
Cincinnati Bell's Q4 wireline revenue remains flat at $182 million
CyrusOne extends colocation reach into Phoenix Read more about: data center, CenturyLink
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