Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC) agreed to acquire Marconi's North American Access (NAA) business for $240 million in cash. Marconi NAA's major products include a fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) platform and DLCs. The acquisition would also provide AFC with a greater ability to penetrate major RBOC accounts. Notably, Marconi's fiber-to-the-curb platform is deployed extensively at BellSouth, which has been pursuing a fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) architecture since 1995. Nearly one million homes have been fiber-passed out of a market of 14 million homes in BellSouth territory. Meanwhile, AFC's fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) solution was recently selected by Verizon.
AFC said the acquisition would enhance its position as the largest equipment vendor exclusively focused on the access network. Other major NAA customers include CenturyTel, Grande Communications and Sprint. Leading AFC customers include AllTel, CenturyTel, SBC, Telus, Sprint and Verizon.
Marconi's NAA business generated $126.9 million in revenue and $4.9 million in operating income during the first nine months of 2003. The acquisition covers Marconi's facility in Bedford, Texas and its employees. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2004. http://www.afc.com
- In November 2003, Verizon selected Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC) to provide the central office and premises optical electronics for its fiber-to-the-home project. Pending regulatory clarification, Verizon's initial deployment plans involve passing about 1 million homes with FTTP in 2004, with the deployment pace potentially doubling in 2005. In the first half of 2004, Verizon expects to begin initial test deployments in at least two communities. By the end of the year, the company expects to deploy the new technology in over 100 central offices across nine states. Capital spending will be shifted from other areas to support the FTTP rollout. Within five years, Verizon expects to have FTTP available to 60% of its existing customer base.
