Today's Top Stories Cox Communications has become the latest service provider to announce an intention to launch a 1 Gbps fiber to the home (FTTH) service, a move that will challenge both AT&T (NYSE: T) and Google Fiber (NASDAQ: GOOG), reports Bloomberg. "We're working on our road map now to bring gigabit speeds to customers this year," Pat Esser, the president and CEO of Cox, said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the Cable Show in Los Angeles, adding that the cable MSO's customers have been asking for faster speeds. While Cox, AT&T and others don't cite Google Fiber as a threat, it's hard not to overlook the influence the Internet search giant's move has had on the overall broadband market. Such influence is happening in Texas, where AT&T last year announced it would also deliver a 1 Gbps service only hours after Google Fiber made its plans public for Austin. Later, Time Warner Cable announced it would up speeds for its broadband customers from 50 to 300 Mbps without any additional cost to the customer. One of the interesting elements of Cox's plan is that it plans to leverage and extend the existing fiber network infrastructure it uses to supply services to businesses and other carriers. While the cable MSO did not reveal pricing or any specific markets where it would build out FTTH, one market it could target is Phoenix, where it currently has an embedded base of 578,000 subscribers. Perhaps not surprisingly, Esser said what's driving Cox to consider rolling out fiber-based broadband is that like its fellow cable brothers Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), broadband subscriptions continue to rise as its bread-and-butter video base "leveled off" in 2013. Google Fiber itself cited Phoenix as one of the 34 cities it could target in its next wave of potential deployments, while AT&T said it is planning to bring its GigaPower service to nearly 100 cities and municipalities in the next year. For more:
- Bloomberg has this article
- here's FierceCable's take Related articles:
AT&T targets 100 cities for its fiber-based broadband service
Google Fiber to conduct small business pilot in Kansas City
Cincinnati Bell extends 1 Gbps fiber service to The Brandery, sets plan for broader rollout
Google Fiber's Austin launch delayed by permitting process
AT&T to bring 1 Gbps FTTH service to North Carolina Read more about: Google Fiber, Bloomberg Television
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Level 3's first-quarter 2014 earnings were driven again by Enterprise Core Network Services (CNS) revenue, which rose 11 percent year-over-year to $962 million. Enterprise service revenues also contributed to CNS' 6.6 percent year-over-year revenue increase to $1.5 billion. Total revenue was $1.6 billion, up from $1.58 billion in the first quarter of 2013. "The first quarter 2014 marks the ninth consecutive quarter of growth in Enterprise CNS revenue, which grew 11 percent year-over-year on a constant currency basis," said Sunit Patel, executive vice president and CFO of Level 3, in the earnings release. "We saw strength in the quarter in part due to turning up service ahead of schedule and better than expected usage revenue." From a regional perspective, North America continues to lead the pack with $1.04 billion in revenues, up 8 percent year-over-year. While North America Wholesale revenues declined 1 percent to $368 million, Enterprise revenues rose 14 percent to $675 million. The service provider also reported gains in both EMEA and Latin America, particularly in the Enterprise segment. EMEA Enterprise revenues rose 3 percent year-over-year to $225 million, while Latin America Enterprise revenues jumped 12 percent to $189 million. Two of the highlights during the quarter were a number of new multinational corporation (MNC) customer wins and new technology partnerships. In March, Level 3 won a contract with Frankfurt-based Dematic and Cinemark Brazil. More recently, the service provider announced new partnership with Digital Realty Trust where it will provide the data center provider's customers in 14 U.S. and Europe access to Amazon Web Services (AWS Direct Connect) (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft Azure (NASDAQ: MSFT) (ExpressRoute). Adjusted EBITDA was $458 million in the first quarter 2014. Due to the strong CNS revenues and adjusted EBITDA, Patel said the company is updating its full-year 2014 outlook; it now expects to generate free cash flow in the range of $250 million to $300 million for the full-year 2014, up from its prior outlook range of $225 million to $275 million. Shares of Level 3 were listed at $41.01, up $3.90 or 10.5 percent, in Wednesday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. For more:
- see the earnings release Special report: Wireline telecom earnings in the first quarter of 2014 Related articles:
Level 3, Digital Realty provide direct connection to Amazon, Microsoft cloud services
Level 3 gets ISO certification for security services in Latin America
Level 3 grabs two new multi-national enterprise wins
Level 3 connects network to 50 U.S. Air Force sites
Level 3's Storey: M&A is an option, not a necessity Read more about: Latin America, Emea
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FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is once again defending his stance on the proposed revision of the net neutrality rules after initial elements were leaked to the press last week. In a new blog post called "Finding the Best Path Forward to Protect the Open Internet," Wheeler said that the proposal was not a final decision, but instead a "formal request for input" on Open Internet rules. When The Wall Street Journal broke the story about the proposed revisions, the FCC faced a mountain of criticism from open Internet advocates and industry trade groups. A number of reports suggested that the FCC changed its stance on allowing service providers to charge over the top video providers like Netflix and others to get a speedier connection on their broadband network to deliver their service to consumers. Wheeler maintained his position that the proposed rules would not allow any service provider to block access or discriminate against Internet traffic traveling over their last mile connections. "At the heart of the proposed NPRM is the assurance that it won't be possible for an Internet provider to degrade the service available to all," Wheeler wrote. "Let me re-emphasize that: the Internet will remain like it is today, an open pathway. If a broadband provider (ISP) acts in a manner that keeps users from effectively taking advantage of that pathway then it should be a violation of the Open Internet rules." Wheeler laid out examples of what would violate what he says is "commercially reasonable" behavior: - Something that harms consumers is not commercially reasonable. For instance, degrading service in order to create a new "fast lane" would be shut down. - Something that harms competition is not commercially reasonable. For instance, degrading overall service so as to force consumers and content companies to a higher priced tier would be shut down. - Providing exclusive, prioritized service to an affiliate is not commercially reasonable. For instance, a broadband provider that also owns a sports network should not be able to give a commercial advantage to that network over another competitive sports network wishing to reach viewers over the Internet. - Something that curbs the free exercise of speech and civic engagement is not commercially reasonable. For instance, if the creators of new Internet content or services had to seek permission from ISPs or pay special fees to be seen online, such action should be shut down. He also emphasized that the proposal is not a final, but rather "a formal request for input on a proposal as well as a set of related questions," adding that "all options for protecting and promoting an Open Internet are on the table." The proposal will be voted on by the FCC commissioners at the agency's open meeting on May 15. For more:
- see the FCC blog post
- see this DSL Reports story
- The Wall Street Journal has this story (sub. req.) Related articles:
Report: FCC's proposed middle ground net neutrality rules come under fire
FCC to rework existing net neutrality rules, won't appeal Verizon ruling
FCC loses neutrality battle as court strikes down rules
Federal appeals court strikes down FCC's net neutrality rules Read more about: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, FCC
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TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC) put another stake into the U.S. market by establishing a connection with EvoSwitch's Washington, D.C., data center. Through this agreement, TSIC will be able to provide its suite of services, including IP, Ethernet, voice, mobile roaming and new IPX services, via the EvoSwitch data center to both its own customers and EvoSwitch's customers. By connecting the EvoSwitch data center in Washington to its North American backbone, TSIC said it will be able to meet the growing demands for connectivity to and from the greater northern Virginia region. Another key point of the EvoSwitch pact is to provide international reach into the region. Today, TSIC owns and operates a 100G-enabled network that connects over 200 pops around the world. "By adding the EvoSwitch facility in Washington, we further increase high-performance connectivity to and from the commercial centers in the region as well as the opportunity for locally-based content and service providers to do business with regional as well as international reach at the speed of fiber," said Ivo Pascucci, regional director/Americas for TSIC. North America, in particular, has been one of TSIC's growth priorities. In November, the service provider announced that it was adding 11,500 dark fiber miles to its network, which would enable it to extend its reach into 44 American cities by the end of this year. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
TeliaSonera, Huawei conduct G.fast trial in Finland
TeliaSonera International Carrier adds 11,500 fiber miles to North America network
TeliaSonera International Carrier extends optical network reach with Infinera's SD-FEC technology
TeliaSonera International Carrier implements Infinera's DTN-X on its Nordic network route Read more about: Teliasonera
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Calix reported that its first-quarter 2014 revenues were $85.8 million, down 5.2 percent year-over-year from $90.5 million in the first quarter of 2013 due to what it said was a slower cycle of sales in the quarter. "Growing demand for gigabit services and the recently completed integration of E-Series solutions with the BLM 1500 platform and the EntriView management system allowed us to make solid progress in expanding our customer footprint both domestically and internationally during the first quarter," said Carl Russo, president and CEO of Calix, in the earnings release. In addition to developing enhancements for its product set, Calix introduced its Consulting services to its Unified Access portfolio in March. By providing its Analytics and Catalyst services, it said that it can help its customers leverage its Compass software applications to gain insight into subscriber behavior and how to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) and reduce churn. The company reported a non-GAAP net loss of $1.5 million, or 3 cents per fully diluted share. GAAP net loss for the first quarter of 2014 was $10.0 million, or $(0.20) per basic and diluted share, compared with a GAAP net loss of $6.2 million, or $(0.13) per basic and diluted share for the first quarter of 2013. Shares of Calix were listed at $8.46, down 24 cents or 2.76 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). For more:
- see the earnings release Special report: Wireline telecom earnings in the first quarter of 2014 Related articles:
Calix's Q4 revenue jumps 3 percent year-over-year to $94M
Calix says lower Q4 2013 revenue guidance is due to carrier spending declines
Calix's Q3 revenue rises 27 percent to $103.6M, but issues cautious forecast
CenturyLink names Calix as its PON supplier for Omaha FTTH pilot Read more about: Calix
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