Cable MSO Shaw Communications (NYSE: SJR) is the latest service provider to light a 100 Gbps-capable intercity fiber network, one that it claims is the first ever to be seen in Canada. Working with equipment from Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), the cable operator said the network will able to carry up to 88 100G channels over one single fiber pair. Following a field trial over a 350 km link between Calgary and Edmonton, Shaw will be able to deliver services at a rate of 100 Gbps to subscribers. Although Shaw has a wide-reaching traditional HFC network to deliver services, the 100G network could potentially complement its exploration into delivering Gbps-speed Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network services. Last year it conducted a Gbps-capable trial. For Alcatel-Lucent, the latest deal with Shaw, which joins other service providers such as China Telecom and P&T Luxembourg, is another carrier validation of the vendor's 100 Gbps components. For more:
- see the release Download our eBook: 100 Gbps Networks See the Light Related articles:
China Telecom makes 100 Gbps move with Alcatel-Lucent
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P&TLuxembourg employs Alcatel-Lucent for 100G optical, Ethernet network Read more about: 100 Gbps, Alcatel-Lucent, Shaw Communications
back to top Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) Chairman and CEO Ben Verwaayen has had high hopes to turn around the struggling company, but it appears that process is going to take longer than he initially thought. For the quarter, revenue slid 6.8 percent year-over-year and 2.7 percent sequentially to €3.8 billion ($5.17 billion). Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S forecast €3.99 billion ($5.42 billion) and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of €158.5 million ($215.5 million). On the wireline side, Alcatel-Lucent's key areas of growth continue to come from its IP division, while optics and wireline struggled in the quarter: - IP Division: Driven by ongoing sales of IP/MPLS routers in the Americas region, the IP division's revenues rose 2.7 percent to €376 million ($511 million).
- Optics Division: In the optics division, Alcatel-Lucent reported €582 million ($791.3 million) in revenues, down 10.6 percent from a year ago. The vendor attributed the decline to both its submarine and terrestrial optics segments. However, it did report double digit growth in microwave sales across all regions, and in WDM in the Americas. One of the star performers in its traditional optics category was a number of wins for its single-carrier 100G technology at Maxis in Kuala Lumpur, T-Mobile Czech Republic, and Rostelecom in Russia. Meanwhile, in the submarine business, Alcatel-Lucent expanded its joint submarine cable maintenance program with TE Subcom to enhance their ability to build and repair undersea cables in the northern Pacific region.
- Wireline Division: The wireline division's revenues fell 22.2 percent from their year-ago level, to €308 million ($418.7 million), a factor they attribute to slower IPDSLAM sales, particularly in EMEA and the Americas, and its legacy businesses. Despite lower IP DSLAM sales, Alcatel-Lucent did see a good deal of interest in its VDSL2 vectoring technology from large incumbent providers like Belgacom who plan to use it to extend the rate and reach of their existing last mile copper network. Its fiber access portfolio, including GPON equipment, grew over 40 percent with growth in the APAC and Americas regions.
Looking forward, the vendor said it has set an adjusted operating market of about 4 percent for 2011, a lower figure than its previous forecast of above 5 percent. As seen with its competitors Ericsson, Juniper Networks and Nokia Siemens Networks, the lower outlook is related to fear that service providers will cut spending in the rest of 2011 and 2012. Verwaayen said that to combat this problem he has devised a cost-cutting program to generate $275 million in savings in 2012. "Given economic uncertainties, we will take more radical actions," he said. "You will see us increase our efforts on cost control and cash flow." For more:
- see the release
- Reuters has this article Earnings summary: Wireline in the third quarter 2011
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Belgacom to deliver 50 Mbps over copper via Alcatel-Lucent's VDSL2 vectoring gear Read more about: Ben Verwaayen, Alcatel-Lucent, third quarter 2011 earnings
back to top Many of FairPoint's (Nasdaq: FRP) New Hampshire-area FAST broadband subscribers still can't get online due to software issues at a CO (central office) in Nashua following a power outage from last week's unseasonable snowstorm. 
| FairPoint's Twitter account is staying active with customers waiting for service to be restored. |
In addition to Nashua, customers in neighboring towns including Brookline, Hudson, Merrimack and Pelham are also still without service. FAST is what FairPoint renamed the FiOS Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) service it acquired when it purchased Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) New England lines in 2008. Jeff Nevins, a FairPoint spokesman, said on Monday night the service provider would be "resynching" a number of its Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) in the Nashua CO. He added that making this software change would resolve any customer issues in Nashua with the exception of those customers that were affected by downed lines. Nevins told FierceTelecom that as of this morning they "have made significant progress restoring service to the customers in the Nashua area" and that he will have more information later today. Up to this point, customers in New Hampshire affected by the outage have been frustrated with being able to get answers as to when the issues would be resolved. "I've called and get automated message saying there are outages in all these towns. Twice I held on to speak to real person," Derek Widtfeldt, a Nashua resident, told the Nashua Telegraph. "All they could tell me is 'it's out'. I said: 'Well, I knew that!' " For more:
- The Nashua Telegraph has this article
- here's FierceIPTV's take Related articles:
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FairPoint sues Level 3 for $6.2M in unpaid local network access charges Read more about: FTTH, Fttp, FiOS, Fairpoint Communications
back to top Telus (Toronto: T.TO) saw its Q3 revenues rise 6.5 percent to CAD 2.6 billion (USD 2.55 billion), a result of strong wireless and wireline growth in the quarter.
Driven by strong data growth, the Canadian service provider's wireless revenue grew 9 percent, while wireline revenue grew 4 percent. 
| Click here for details from Telus' Q3 2011 earnings results. |
On a consolidated basis, Q3 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 3 percent to CAD 968 million (USD 948.8 million) as a result of revenue growth being offset by support growth for its Optik broadband services. Here's a breakdown of the company's key metrics: - Voice services: Total network access lines (NALs) declined 4 percent from Q3 2010 to 3.6 million, which the service provider said is the slowest rate of decline in two and a half years. Not surprisingly, the 6.3 percent decline in residential lines is attributable to cable competition and wireless substitution. What did help Telus reduce residential NAL losses by 9,000 to 30,000 was its continued focus on providing its Optik brand triple play service bundles. Meanwhile, business NALs declined by 13,000 due to ongoing competition in the small and medium business market and conversion to IP services.
- Broadband access: Driven by the pull-through effect of Optik TV service sales and continued broadband service expansion, Telus added 22,000 new Optik High Speed Internet subscribers, up 47 percent from a year ago.
- Video services: While the service provider continues to trail large cable MSOs like Shaw (NYSE: SJR) in terms of total video subscribers, it did add 50,000 subscribers in the quarter, a 32 percent year-over-year increase. At the end of the third quarter Telus had a total of 453,000 TV subscribers up 70 percent from a year ago.
"Our ongoing investments in broadband networks are generating operational and financial momentum as evidenced by strong sales of smartphones, Optik IPTV service and 440,000 new customer connections in the last year," said Darren Entwistle, TELUS President and CEO. "Moreover, TELUS delivered industry leading data revenue growth in both wireless and wireline services at 53 and 15 percent, respectively, in the third quarter." For the year 2011, the service provider has reaffirmed its total consolidated and segmented annual guidance of CAD 10.2 billion to CAD 10.4 billion (USD 10 billion to 10.2 billion) in consolidated revenues. In the wireline segment, Telus has forecast 2011 revenues of CAD 4.825 to 4.925 billion (USD 4.73 to 4.83 billion). For more:
- see the earnings release
- Reuters has this article Earnings summary: Wireline in the third quarter 2011 Related articles:
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Telus changes its Usage Based Billing (UBB) tune Read more about: Broadband, IPTV, Telus, third quarter 2011 earnings
back to top As Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN) moves closer to completing its acquisition of PAETEC (Nasdaq: PAET), it is going to issue a $500 million offering of private senior notes. Set to be completed before the end of November, the notes will mature in 2022. The independent ILEC will use the proceeds of the offering to redeem the $300 million aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 8.625 percent senior notes that are due in 2016, and to repay what it borrowed from its revolving credit facility. If the service provider's acquisition of PAETEC is completed as planned at the end of this year, it will use borrowings under its revolving credit facility to repurchase the $300.0 million aggregate principal amount of PAETEC's outstanding 9.5 percent senior notes due in 2015. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Report: Windstream could face bidding war for PAETEC
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Windstream's $38M Fla. broadband stimulus project gets underway
PAETEC shareholders approve Windstream acquisition Read more about: Acquisition, Windstream, Shareholders, Paetec Communications
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