American Tower to acquire Telxius Towers for €7.7 billion

Telefónica agreed to sell Telxius Towers to American Tower Corporation for approximately €7.7 billion (approximately $9.4 billion at current foreign exchange rates), subject to customary closing adjustments. 

The deal consists of approximately 31,000 existing communications sites in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina. In addition, American Tower expects to spend approximately $500 million to construct a committed pipeline of approximately 3,300 new sites in Germany and Brazil through 2025.

Following this operation, American Tower becomes Telefónica's leading supplier in both Europe and Latin America and maintains its status as a partner in strategic projects in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

Tom Bartlett, American Tower’s Chief Executive Officer stated, “This transaction is transformational for our European business and will establish American Tower as one of the largest independent communications infrastructure providers in Europe. It is also complementary for our Latin American portfolio and positions us to drive strong long-term organic growth across both regions while augmenting our new build programs and enhancing our relationships with key tenants. We are excited to broaden our partnership with Telefónica by acquiring a high-quality, well-located portfolio of sites that will further diversify our global footprint and enhance our ability to help provide broadband connectivity for billions of people.”

American Tower expects the assets to generate approximately $775 million in property revenue, approximately $410 million in gross margin, and approximately $390 million in Adjusted EBITDA at current foreign exchange rates, in their first full year in its portfolio, pro forma for contributions from the committed future build-to-suits. This implies an Enterprise Value / Adjusted EBITDA multiple of less than 26x.

The President of Telefónica, José María Álvarez-Pallete, said that "this is a deal that makes strategic sense within our roadmap. American Towers was our second supplier after Telxius". He added that "after this great operation we will continue to focus on our most ambitious objectives: the integration of O2 with Virgin in the United Kingdom, the purchase of Oi mobile in Brazil and the reduction of debt". 

American Tower to acquire InSite, adding 3,000 communication sites

Thursday, November 05, 2020  American Tower, Mergers And Acquisitions  

American Tower agreed to acquire InSite Wireless Group, which owns, operates and manages approximately 3,000 communications sites, primarily in the U.S. and Canada, for approximately $3.5 billion.Insite's portfolio includes more than 1,400 owned towers in the U.S., over 200 owned towers in Canada and approximately 70 distributed antenna system (“DAS”) networks in the U.S. In addition, InSite controls more than 600 land parcels under communications...

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T-Mobile US signs 15-year lease with American Tower

Tuesday, September 15, 2020  American Tower, T-Mobile  

 T-Mobile announced a 15-year agreement to lease sites from American Tower across the United States. Financial terms were not disclosed.The companies said the new agreement allows T-Mobile to increase momentum on its rapid 5G deployment, adding coverage and enhancing speed in thousands of cities and towns across the country.“Wireless mobility has never been more critical for consumers and businesses alike, and as technology continues to advance...

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American Tower names new CEO, CFO

Monday, March 16, 2020  American Tower  

American Tower Corporation named Tom Bartlett as its new CEO, replacing Jim Taiclet as President and Chief Executive Officer. Bartlett has served as American Tower’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for over ten years, joining the company from Verizon Communications in April 2009 after a career there of more than 25 years. Taiclet joined American Tower in 2001 as President and Chief Operating Officer and became its Chief Executive...

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American Tower pursues infrastructure in Ghana and Uganda

Sunday, January 12, 2020  American Tower  

by Benedict Chua, Assistant Editor American Tower has reached an agreement to acquire with MTN Group's minority stakes in joint ventures in Ghana and Uganda for total consideration of approximately $523 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approval, and will result in a one-time impact for American Tower of approximately $65 million in 2020 from the payment of previously deferred cash...

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Orange teams with American Tower on new mobile sites in France

Tuesday, December 17, 2019  American Tower, ATC, France, Orange  

Orange, the leading mobile network operator in France, and ATC France, a subsidiary of American Tower Corporation, signed an agreement concerning the deployment of between 900 and 2,000 new mobile network sites located mainly in rural areas and along transport routes over the period 2020-2024. Orange and ATC France have been working together since 2012 for the deployment and operation of mobile network infrastructure and have thus further reinforced...

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T-Mobile US inks multi-billion-dollar deals with Ericsson and Nokia

T-Mobile US has signed new five-year, multi-billion-dollar agreements with both Ericsson and Nokia for the continued expansion of its 5G network.  Financial terms were not disclosed. Both vendors have been long-term suppliers to T-Mobile.

“T-Mobile already has the largest 5G network in the country,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile President of Technology. “These agreements with our longstanding 5G partners Nokia and Ericsson will help us take our 5G leadership even further, delivering ever-better experiences for our customers for years to come.”

T-Mobile highlighted its nationwide launch of standalone 5Glast summer, and recently pulled off the world’s first 5G standalone (SA) data session with New Radio Carrier Aggregation (NR CA). T-Mobile said it plans to add advanced technical capabilities like voice over 5G (VoNR), network slicing, and multi-user massive MIMO to its 5G network.

http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

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Intel appoints Pat Gelsinger as next CEO

Intel's Board of Directors appointed Pat Gelsinger as the company's new chief executive officer, effective Feb. 15, 2021, replacing Bob Swan.

Gelsinger has served as the CEO of VMware since 2012, where he significantly transformed the company into a recognized global leader in cloud infrastructure, enterprise mobility and cyber security, almost tripling the company’s annual revenues. Prior to joining VMware, Gelsinger was president and chief operating officer of EMC Information Infrastructure Products at EMC, overseeing engineering and operations for information storage, data computing, backup and recovery, RSA security and enterprise solutions. Before joining EMC, he spent 30 years at Intel, becoming the company’s first chief technology officer and driving the creation of key industry technologies such as USB and Wi-Fi. He was the architect of the original 80486 processor, led 14 different microprocessor programs and played key roles in the Core and Xeon families.

“Pat is a proven technology leader with a distinguished track record of innovation, talent development, and a deep knowledge of Intel. He will continue a values-based cultural leadership approach with a hyper focus on operational execution,” said Omar Ishrak, independent chairman of the Intel board. “After careful consideration, the board concluded that now is the right time to make this leadership change to draw on Pat’s technology and engineering expertise during this critical period of transformation at Intel. The board is confident that Pat, together with the rest of the leadership team, will ensure strong execution of Intel’s strategy to build on its product leadership and take advantage of the significant opportunities ahead as it continues to transform from a CPU to a multi-architecture XPU company.”

“I am thrilled to rejoin and lead Intel forward at this important time for the company, our industry and our nation,” said Gelsinger. “Having begun my career at Intel and learned at the feet of Grove, Noyce and Moore, it’s my privilege and honor to return in this leadership capacity. I have tremendous regard for the company’s rich history and powerful technologies that have created the world’s digital infrastructure. I believe Intel has significant potential to continue to reshape the future of technology and look forward to working with the incredibly talented global Intel team to accelerate innovation and create value for our customers and shareholders.”

“My goal over the past two years has been to position Intel for a new era of distributed intelligence, improving execution to strengthen our core CPU franchise and extending our reach to accelerate growth,” said Swan. “With significant progress made across those priorities, we’re now at the right juncture to make this transition to the next leader of Intel. I am fully supportive of the board’s selection of Pat and have great confidence that, under his leadership and the rest of the management team, Intel will continue to lead the market as one of the world’s most influential technology companies.”

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NEC to build subsea cable in Palau

The National Submarine Cable Utility Belau Submarine Cable Corporation (BSCC) of the Palau Republic (Palau) has awarded a contract to NEC for the construction of the Palau Cable 2 (PC2) optical submarine cable.

The PC2 cable will have a total length of approximately 110km and connect Palau with another high-capacity cable linking southeast Asia to mainland U.S.  The new cable serves as an addition to the first optical submarine cable laid by NEC in Palau in 2017.

This project is being implemented under a buyer's credit loan agreement by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC)

with BSCC. The loan portion from SMBC is insured by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). Additional financing is being provided by the United States Government and the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP).

NEC begins construction of 3 subsea cables in Micronesia

Wednesday, May 10, 2017  NEC, Submarine, Undersea  

NEC, in partnership with Belau Submarine Cable (BSCC) and the government of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), announced it has commenced construction of three submarine cable links that will connect the islands of Palau, Yap and Chuuk in the western Pacific Ocean to the global network.

BSCC, supported by a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has signed a supply contract with NEC to build the spur to Palau, while FSM, backed by a grant from the World Bank (WB), has signed a supply contract with NEC to construct the spur to Yap, and recently signed an additional agreement for the extension from Pohnpei to Chuuk.

The spurs to Palau and Yap will both interconnect with the SEA-US cable system, also under construction by NEC, which connects the Philippines and Indonesia to the west coast of the U.S. via Guam and Hawaii. In addition, the extension from Pohnpei, the capital of FSM, to Chuuk branches out of another existing cable linking FSM, the Marshall Islands and Guam. All three routes feature transmission speeds of 100 Gbit/s per channel.

BSCC is a state-owned entity of the Republic of Palau with responsibility for the submarine cable project. BSCC has signed an IRU agreement with GTI (a subsidiary of Globe Telecom) for the provision of 5 x 100 Gbit/s wavelengths and a branching unit (BU) on the SEA-US West subsystem linking Indonesia, the Philippines and Guam. It has also contracted NEC to supply a spur cable linking the BU on the SEA-US West subsystem to Palau.

On completion of the project, BSCC will provide open bandwidth access to the international cable system for domestic telcos.

In addition, DTCI has signed an IRU agreement with Telkom Indonesia (Telin) for 5 x 100 Gbit/s wavelengths and a BU on the main trunk of the SEA-US West subsystem, plus a supply contract with NEC to deliver a spur cable linking the BU on the SEA-US West subsystem to Yap, along with a contract extension that includes a cable linking Weno Island Chuuk to the existing spur on to the HANTRU-1 cable system in Pohnpei to Guam.

Ownership and implementation responsibilities for the cable systems will pass from DTCI to the newly established FSM Telecommunications Cable (FSMTCC) which, as owner of the Yap and Chuuk cable systems, will provide open bandwidth access to the international cable systems for domestic telcos.

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D-Link offers USB-C to 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

D-Link introduced a USB-C to 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter, enable laptop users to connect with with 2.5X the bandwidth of current Gigabit connections.

With ultra-fast 2.5Gbps data transfer rates, the mini DUB-E250 measures smaller in size than a pack of gum, making it easily portable with simple connectivity to an existing PC or laptop. The adapter is backward compatible with existing network equipment eliminating costly, time-consuming equipment updates or replacement costs.

"2.5GbE is one of the fastest-growing and highly-discussed technology trends of today.  Current digital activities and productivity outpace the capabilities of existing Gigabit Ethernet connectivity," said Raman Bridwell, vice president, products and services at D-Link Systems. "Our new multi-gig unmanaged switch and adapter are helping today's consumer and business users upgrade their systems ushering in more reliable, stable, and improved network performance."

D-Link also introduced a Multi-Gigabit Unmanaged Switc with five 2.5G Ethernet ports. In addition, a 10GB Ethernet port allows users to connect a NAS storage device for quick data restoring and backup. With exclusive Smart Turbo Mode, the switch activates extremely low latency for high-quality performance with just the push of a button. Each port is backward-compatible for seamless network integration, and a front-facing LED display provides users simple performance alerts.

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India's Lightstorm Telecom Ventures deploys Ciena

 Lightstorm Telecom Ventures (LTV), an independent and carrier-neutral infrastructure provider in India, has deployed Ciena in its metro and long-distance network to support the delivery of low latency and high-capacity digital services. LTV’s network covers more than 10,000 kilometers and 60 data centers in five cities, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad, as well as strategic subsea cable landing stations providing high-capacity connectivity to Mumbai and Chennai.

LTV is using Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform with Layer 0 control plane, WaveLogic 5 Extreme, Waveserver Ai, Manage, Control and Plan (MCP), and Services as well as Blue Planet Multi-Domain Service Orchestration (MDSO).

“Investing in networking solutions and software from Ciena equips our customers with unmatched speeds and programmable network capabilities,” said Amajit Gupta, chief executive officer, LTV. “Together with Ciena, we’re helping to further establish India as a hub for international connectivity.”

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Consolidated Comm Builds 5G-ready network with Ciena

Consolidated Communications, a top-10 fiber provider in the U.S. with 46,300 fiber route miles, is working with Ciena to upgrade its wireline network to support new and emerging 5G services and applications including new FlexEthernet-based slicing options.

Specifically, Consolidated will leverage Ciena’s Adaptive IP solutions including the 5164, 5166 and 5170 Routers, along with the 8180 Coherent Networking Platform, to provide standards-based IP connectivity and network slicing that is both open and optimized for 5G xHaul connectivity.

Ciena’s Adaptive IP solution will also provide  Consolidated Communications with next generation network automation and control by leveraging Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller, the multi-vendor Blue Planet Multi-Domain Service Orchestration (MDSO) and Blue Planet Route Optimization and Analysis (ROA) software.   

“Anticipating the impact 5G will have on our lives, Consolidated is preparing our network to handle the next-generation of connectivity. Working with Ciena allows us to incorporate automation and analytics capabilities into our network so we can deliver the 5G services our customers are demanding," stated Tom White, Chief Technology Officer, Consolidated Communications. 

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Ekinops reports stable revenue trend

Ekinops reported Q4 2020 revenue  €25.3 million, representing a limited decline of 1.0% (compared to €25.6 million in Q4 2019, up 20.7%), and at upper end of the target range. At constant exchange rates, the Group returned to growth in Q4 2020 with a 2% increase in revenue.

Ekinops said business activity remaining solid overall at the end of the year despite the tougher health situation.

Didier Brédy, Chairman & CEO of Ekinops, made the following comments:

"By achieving stable revenue overall in 2020, Ekinops has achieved an excellent relative performance with respect to its market, once again reflecting the quality of the Group's team.

"Despite a disrupted market environment, in 2020 we recorded major commercial successes with our new offerings, especially in virtualization, SD-WAN and OTN networks. These solutions, along with the first commercial developments of 5G products from 2021, will help amplify growth momentum as the effects of the health crisis subside." 

https://www.ekinops.com/newswire/corporate/solid-q4-2020-revenue-at-upper-end-of-the-target-range-fy-revenue-stable-at-93-million

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