JUPITER 3 geo-sat brings 500G capacity and 300 spot beams

On Friday, July 28, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket launched the Hughes JUPITER 3 mission to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Three hours and twenty-eight minutes after lift-off, JUPITER 3 successfully deployed from the launch vehicle and the solar arrays were  unfolded in space to their full ten-story span. The satellite is now transmitting and receiving. It will undergo extensive bus and payload testing before entering service and augmenting the Hughes JUPITER fleet with more than 500 Gbps of additional capacity.  

JUPITER 3, also known as EchoStar XXIV, is the largest commercial satellite to date.  From geosynchronous orbit at 95° West longitude, it will provide connectivity across North and South America at speeds up to 100 Mbps. Hughes plans to offer a hybrid service that leverages multipath technology to seamlessly blend satellite and wireless technologies for a faster and more responsive service than traditional satellite internet. JUPITER 3 will also support applications such as in-flight Wi-Fi, enterprise networking and cellular backhaul for mobile network operators (MNOs).  

The new satellite  features customized architecture based on a broad range of technology advances, including industry-first Q- and V-band gateway feeder links, the miniaturization of electronics, solid state amplifiers and highly efficient spot beam antenna designs. JUPITER 3 is equipped with 300 spot beams. Each beam carries 500 MHz or more, providing more than 1 Gbps to the VSAT users in each cell.  It uses Ka-band, Q- and V-band for gateways. Hughes has 18 active gateways, each of which transmits 11 GHz of V-band and Ka band and receives 4 GHz in Q-band. 

JUPITER 3 was built by Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California. 

This was the third launch and landing of these Falcon Heavy side boosters, which previously supported USSF-44 and USSF-67.

“JUPITER 3 is the highest capacity, highest performing satellite we’ve ever launched. As the leading provider and inventor of satellite internet, we’re proud to herald the start of a new era of connectivity and serve more customers where cable and fiber cannot,” said Hamid Akhavan, CEO, EchoStar. “This purpose-built satellite is engineered uniquely to meet our customers’ needs and target capacity where it’s needed most, such as the most rural regions of the Americas, so they can stay connected to the applications and services they depend on every day.”  

https://www.hughes.com/resources/press-releases/hughes-jupiter-3-satellite-successfully-launches-heralds-start-new-era

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NTIA readies nearly $1 billion in 2nd round Tribal Broadband

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today the availability of $980 million in funding  under the second round of funding from the Internet for All initiative’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). 

The funding is targeted at Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities for the deployment of Internet infrastructure on Tribal Lands, affordability programs, telehealth and distance learning initiatives.

"The digital divide has disproportionately impacted people in Tribal communities for years,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson.  “But thanks to our Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, that’s finally starting to change. This latest round of funding will provide Indian Country with affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service.”

TBCP has already awarded $1.78 billion to 191 Tribal entities since the program began in 2021. By expanding high-speed Internet access and providing digital training and inclusion programs, the program will improve quality of life, spur economic development, and create opportunities for remote employment, online entrepreneurship, remote learning, and telehealth for Native American communities.

https://www.ntia.gov/press-release/2023/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-1-billion-new-internet-all-funding

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Dell’Oro: AI infrastructure spending propels data center CAPEX

AI infrastructure spending will propel data center capex to over a half trillion dollars by 2027, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group. However, the report predicts near-term cloud and enterprise capex growth to decelerate as the market undergoes digestion.

“Despite near-term data center capes growth headwinds as the major cloud service providers and enterprises optimize their infrastructure, forthcoming technology transitions will stimulate long-term growth,” said Baron Fung, Senior Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Most notably, the hyperscale cloud service providers will prioritize their investments toward accelerated systems for AI applications for both their public cloud platform and SaaS offerings. We will see continuous optimization across the entire data center stack, with the deployment of next-generation servers featuring high-core counts and deeper memory that are attached to next-generation networks. Meanwhile, the rest of the market will invest in accelerated systems more selectively, with most enterprises adopting a hybrid cloud strategy,” explained Fung.

Additional highlights from the July 2023 Data Center IT Capex 5-Year Forecast Report:

• * Worldwide data center capex is forecast to grow 15 percent by 2027.
• * Over 20 percent of the global server deployments in 2027 may be accelerated.
• * The edge computing forecast was trimmed as the ecosystem and compelling use cases have been slow to materialize.

https://www.delloro.com/news/ai-infrastructure-investments-will-lift-data-center-capex-to-over-500-billion-by-2027/

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DE-CIX expands interconnection footprint to Indonesia

DE-CIX plans to establish a joint venture company PT DE-CIX Indonesia, together with PT IDMarco Digital Solusi, a subsidiary of the Salim Group. 

The plan is to operate a distributed IX across multiple data centers in Jakarta using the DE-CIX Apollon platform. 

DE-CIX Jakarta will be connected to the existing DE-CIX ecosystem in Southeast Asia, now covering six metro markets: Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Brunei, and Manila. The IX will be directly connected to DE-CIX Singapore, thus incorporating DE-CIX Jakarta into its Southeast Asian interconnection ecosystem.

The platform includes advanced security features such as DE-CIX’s blackholing services and in-depth statistical data that allows participants to better understand their own traffic patterns, as well as a self-service portal and API for the easy management and automation of interconnection services.

“Indonesia, with the largest population and the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia, is the next logical step for DE-CIX in the region,” explains Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “Our integrated solution supports the ongoing transformation of content and traffic localisation in the ASEAN region. Mega Hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong will continue to be important, however we expect to see the main growth in markets such as Jakarta. With the arrival of DE-CIX Apollon in Jakarta, all networks in Indonesia are invited to take advantage of DE-CIX’s best-in-class platform.”

“There has been a quiet investment made in basic digital infrastructure for the last 10 years, thus allowing Indonesia’s Internet penetration to increase significantly over the last five years, especially during the 2020 pandemic from both Mobile and Fixed Broadband. More and more people are becoming aware of the importance of good quality Internet, not just solely relying on fiber optic cables or the latest VSAT technology for connectivity. With the presence of this world-class Internet Exchange, we can accelerate the realization of better Internet quality for Indonesia. We are witnessing a new history being written.” said Thomas Dragono, Director of IDMarco Digital.

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TPG Real Estate acquires 80% of Digital Realty’s NoVA data centers

TPG Real Estate will acquire an 80% stake in three of Digital Realty’s hyperscale data centers in Northern Virginia. The deal is structured as a join venture in which Digital Realty retainsa minority interest in the portfolio while continuing to manage the day-to-day operations of the assets.

The three hyperscale data centers were contributed to the joint venture at an aggregate value of $1.5 billion.  The assets contain approximately 104 megawatts of IT capacity and are primarily leased by investment grade customers.  Based on annualized in-place cash NOI at June 30, 2023, net of signed leases and known move-outs, the transaction values the three facilities at approximately a 6.0% cap rate.  

Digital Realty will receive approximately $1.3 billion of gross proceeds related to the joint venture and the associated financing, which will be used to pay down debt, for transaction related expenses, and general corporate purposes.

"We welcome this partnership with TPG, a highly distinguished investment partner," said Digital Realty Chief Investment Officer Greg Wright.  "The completion of this stabilized hyperscale data center joint venture bolsters and diversifies Digital Realty's capital sources with an experienced partner and further enhances the efficiency of our balance sheet.  We remain focused on positioning Digital Realty to prudently support our stakeholders' longer term capacity requirements and look forward to executing on the remaining elements of our capital plan for 2023."

"Demand for data centers continues to grow rapidly due to data proliferation and the mass adoption of cloud computing.  These are long-term trends that we expect will only be accelerated by recent advancements in AI," said Ty Newell, Business Unit Partner with TPG Real Estate. "Located in the largest and most densely connected data center hub in the world, the Portfolio is well-positioned to address this demand.  We are excited by the outlook for the Ashburn market and look forward to working alongside a world-class partner in Digital Realty."

https://investor.digitalrealty.com/news/news-details/2023/Digital-Realty-and-TPG-Announce-Joint-Venture-of-Hyperscale-Data-Centers-in-Northern-Virginia/default.aspx

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Digital Realty posts Q2 revenue of $1.4 billion, up 20% YoY

 Digital Realty reported revenues for the second quarter of 2023 of $1.4 billion, a 2% increase from the previous quarter and a 20% increase from the same quarter last year.  The company delivered second quarter of 2023 net income of $116 million, and net income available to common stockholders of $108 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, compared to $0.19 per diluted share in the previous quarter and $0.19 per diluted share in the same quarter last year. 

"Digital Realty's second-quarter results demonstrate the positive momentum in our operating business, with improving fundamentals highlighted by strong enterprise leasing activity along with robust renewal spreads and healthy organic growth," said Digital Realty President & Chief Executive Officer Andy Power. "We advanced our funding plan by completing two capital recycling transactions that generated more than $2 billion in gross proceeds, helping to position Digital Realty for the opportunity that lies ahead."

Some highlights

• Digital Realty signed total bookings that are expected to generate $114 million of annualized GAAP rental revenue, including a $37 million contribution from the 0–1 megawatt category and a $13 million contribution from interconnection.
• The weighted-average lag between new leases signed during the second quarter of 2023 and the contractual commencement date was eleven months. 
• Digital Realty also signed renewal leases representing $211 million of annualized GAAP rental revenue during the quarter. 
• Rental rates on renewal leases signed during the second quarter of 2023 rolled up 6.9% on a cash basis and up 14.6% on a GAAP basis. 
• Digital Realty partnered with GI Partners to establish a joint venture for the sale of a 65% interest in two stabilized hyperscale data center buildings in the Chicago metropolitan area.
• Digital Realty had approximately $17.7 billion of total debt outstanding as of June 30, 2023, comprised of $17.2 billion of unsecured debt and approximately $0.5 billion of secured debt and other. 

https://investor.digitalrealty.com/financials/quarterly-results/default.aspx

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DZS debuts environmentally hardened fiber broadband solutions

DZS introduced an end-to-end, environmentally hardened fiber broadband solution.

Highlights of the DZS FiberWay:

• The DZS Velocity Multi-Terabit OLT systems that deliver industry-leading, non-blocking performance and high density, including XGS-PON combo solutions today and the capacity to upgrade in-place to 50G PON and 100G PON in the future
• 
  The DZS Saber 4400 Optical EDGE Transport platform bringing from 100G to 400G of middle mile transport capacity per wavelength – up to 1.6 Terabits per second per stackable platform – to support transport capacity requirements as well as offer hardened CDC FlexGrid Open ROADM support to easily snap into existing transport ring topologies
• The DZS M4000 router enabling Layer 1-3 service delivery and traffic management for anchor institutions, businesses and cell towers
• DZS Expresse advanced cloud software for PON service and network assurance, with a roadmap for optimization for rural service providers
• DZS CloudCheck for in-home WiFi management and remote service assurance, with a roadmap for optimization for rural service providers
• DZS Xtreme cloud software for multi-vendor orchestration and automation, with a roadmap for optimization for rural service providers

DZS FiberWay is available in three base configurations and customizable versions.

• DZS FiberWay1 – Consists of a fixed form factor Velocity V1 capable of supporting over 2,000 subscribers, complemented by the Saber 4400, M4000 and DZS Cloud software
• DZS FiberWay 2 – Consists of a 2-slot, 2RU chassis capable of supporting over 4,000 subscribers, complemented by the Saber 4400, M4000 and DZS Cloud software
• DZS FiberWay 6 – Consists of a 6-slot, 6RU chassis capable of supporting up to 25,000 subscribers, complemented by the Saber 4400, M4000 and DZS Cloud software

Each solution can be complemented by a DZS cabinet optimally sized and configured for maximum efficiency or deployed in an existing cabinet. A wide variety of DZS Helix ONTs, CloudCheck certified WiFi gateways and access points are also available that can cater to the operational preferences of each customer. Additionally, other complementary and environmentally hardened products, such as easy-to-install 1RU co-existence elements (CeX) from Lambda Networks, in circumstances where service providers may desire maximum flexibility in transitioning between PON technologies in the field.

Service providers leveraging BEAD funds can also rest assured that Texas-based DZS is Build America, Buy America (BABA) ready, with a long history of U.S.-based manufacturing and strong relationships with contract manufacturers with U.S.-based manufacturing operations. 

“As communications service providers continue to chip away at the digital divide, they face the pressing need for effective solutions that not only meet the gigabit broadband requirements of today, but the multi-gigabit needs of the future while addressing the business challenges in serving, managing and supporting the needs of these communities over the long-term,” said Miguel Alonso, Chief Product Officer at DZS. “This is not a problem solved by point products for access and transport with software, but rather requires a comprehensive approach across all of these domains to meet the unique operational and business needs of unserved and underserved broadband markets where conditions are challenging, resources are scarce, yet demand for the latest connected home and business services and a world-class experience is high. “

https://www.dzsi.com

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Mitsubishi Electric pursues gallium-oxide wafers

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation acquired an equity position in Novel Crystal Technology, Inc., a Japanese company that develops and sells gallium-oxide wafers. 

Novel Crystal Technology, one of the world's first companies to develop, manufacture and sell gallium-oxide wafers for power semiconductors, and now a leading producer of these products, has manufacturing technology that Mitsubishi Electric will use in its production of gallium-oxide power semiconductors.

Mitsubishi Electric said it now expects to accelerate its development of superior energy-saving gallium-oxide power semiconductors by combining its own expertise in the design and manufacture of low-energy-loss, high-reliability power semiconductors with Novel Crystal Technology's expertise in the production of gallium-oxide wafers.

www.MitsubishiElectric.com/news/

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Broadcom releases Trident 4-X7 Ethernet switch ASIC

Broadcom announced shipment of its new Trident 4-X7 Ethernet switch ASIC— a 4.0 Terabits/second fully programmable switch designed for enterprise data center ToR (Top of Rack) boxes.

The Trident 4-X7 offers native support for 400G connectivity to the next-generation spine/fabric technologies, while cutting power per 100G port by more than half versus the current generation solution. The programmable switching chip also offers hardware features for analytics, diagnostics and telemetry for automating data center operations.  The chip also supports Enterprise SONiC and SAI. The chip is implemented in 7nm process technology.

“Broadcom has made huge investments in addressing the needs of our cloud customers,” said Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager, Core Switching Group, Broadcom. “We are also uniquely positioned to bring all of these cloud technologies into enterprise data centers. Enterprise customers can now take advantage of the same capabilities and innovations.”

Key features of the new BCM56690 series include:

• Cost- and power-optimized for next-generation data center and campus networks, supporting 50G ToRs (48x50G + 8x200G, or 48x50G + 4x400G) with a compiler-programmable architecture
• Enterprise-grade feature set with a high degree of feature concurrency
• Architecture scalability for bandwidth requirements throughout the enterprise network: SKUs available up to 4.0Tbps, all supported with the same NOS and hardware code base
• Industry-leading fully shared packet buffer and database sizes
• Extensive, programmable in-band telemetry including support for IFA 2.0 (In-band Flow Analyzer version 2)
• A wide variety of load-balancing and congestion management features including Dynamic Load Balancing, Dynamic Group Multipathing, Resilient Hashing, Latency-Based ECN marking, and Elephant Flow detection and re-prioritization
• Broadview Gen 4 integrated network instrumentation feature set and software suite, providing full visibility to network operators into packet flow behavior, traffic management state, and switch internal performance
• Four GHz-class processors on-chip enabling powerful out-of-band (streaming) telemetry and a variety of Broadcom-provided embedded applications
• Robust connectivity using up to 160 instances of the industry’s best performing, longest-reach 50G PAM-4 integrated SerDes core, enabling a wide variety of optical and direct attached copper (DAC) links
• https://www.broadcom.com/company/news/product-releases/61331

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AWS Local Zone opens in Phoenix - 34th worldwide

Amazon activated a new AWS Local Zone in Phoenix, Arizona, making a select set of EC2 instance types, EBS volume types, and other AWS services available with single-digit millisecond when accessed locally.

The first AWS Local Zone opened in Los Angeles in 2019.

AWS now operates Local Zones in 16 other parts of the United States and another 17 around the world, 34 in all. 

The company says it is planning to build 19 more Local Zones outside of the U.S.  Popular use cases include real-time gaming, hybrid migrations, content creation for media & entertainment, live video streaming, engineering simulations, and AR/VR at the edge. 

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-aws-local-zone-in-phoenix-arizona-more-instance-types-more-ebs-storage-classes-and-more-services/

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Intel sees significant growth ahead across the AI continuum

Intel reported Q2 revenue of $12.9 billion, down 15% year over year (YoY).

The results beat expectations on gross margin and EPS. Intel also raised guidance for the remaining part of the year. GAAP gross margin was 39.1%

“Our Q2 results exceeded the high end of our guidance as we continue to execute on our strategic priorities, including building momentum with our foundry business and delivering on our product and process roadmaps," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "We are also well-positioned to capitalize on the significant growth across the AI continuum by championing an open ecosystem and silicon solutions that optimize performance, cost and security to democratize AI from cloud to enterprise, edge and client.”

David Zinsner, Intel CFO, said, “Strong execution, including progress towards our $3 billion in cost savings in 2023, contributed to the upside in the quarter. We remain focused on operational efficiencies and our Smart Capital strategy to support sustainable growth and financial discipline as we improve our margins and cash generation and drive shareholder value.”

Some highlights

• Data Center and AI (DCAI) group revenues were lower on higher unit costs driven by factory utilization and product mix
• Network and Edge Group (NEX) revenue s were lower on edge and telco demand softness and elevated network inventories
• Intel remains on track to meet its goal of achieving five nodes in four years. 
• IFS announced that Boeing and Northrop Grumman have committed to joining the U.S. Department of Defense’s RAMP-C program, led by Intel. The program is intended to assure domestic access to next-generation semiconductors by establishing and demonstrating a U.S.-based foundry ecosystem to develop and fabricate chips on Intel 18A.
• DCAI announced the general availability of cloud instances of its 4th Gen Intel Xeon® Scalable processors by Google Cloud. 
• In CCG, Intel continued to see strong demand for its 13th Gen Intel Core™ processor family, with more than 300 designs expected from OEM partners this year. It also announced a collaboration with Microsoft to drive the development of AI on personal computing, and previewed AI-enabled capabilities of Intel’s upcoming Meteor Lake client PC processors at Microsoft’s Build 2023 conference. In addition, Intel introduced the Intel® Arc™ Pro A60 and Pro A60M as new members of the Intel Arc Pro A-series professional range of graphics processing units (GPUs).
• For NEX, Intel, Ericsson and HPE successfully demonstrated the industry’s first vRAN solution running on the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor with Intel vRAN Boost.
• Mobileye continued to generate strong profitability in the second quarter and demonstrated traction with its advanced product portfolio by announcing a SuperVision eyes-on, hands-off design win with Porsche and a mobility-as-a-service collaboration with Volkswagen Group that will soon begin testing.
• The company has 122,200 employees at the end of the quarter compared to 128,200 a year earlier.

https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1637/intel-reports-second-quarter-2023-financial-results 

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T-Mobile US reports service revenues of $15.7B, up 3%, raises guidance slightly

T-Mobile US reported Q2 service revenues of $15.7 billion, up 3% year-over-year, and Postpaid service revenues of $12.1 billion, up 5% year-over-year. Net income was $2.2 billion and diluted earnings per share was $1.86 , up $1.95 year-over-year.

In addition, the company raised its guidance for Core Adjusted EBITDA, which is now expected to be between $28.9 billion and $29.2 billion, an increase from prior guidance of $28.8 billion to $29.2 billion.

“If you were wondering how T-Mobile would perform if growth in our category moderated, I think you’ll find the answer in our latest results — including our best Q2 postpaid phone net adds in eight years, the lowest postpaid phone churn in the industry for the first-time ever, and industry-leading financial growth,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “We’ve set audacious goals and delivered a durable and differentiated plan that is working just as we said it would. And now, fueled by our unique growth opportunities, the momentum of our latest Un-carrier moves, and an unquenchable desire to be the very best at delivering for customers, we are the one to watch — with no plans to slow down.”

Some highlights:

• Postpaid net account additions of 299 thousand decreased 81 thousand year-over-year, reflecting continued industry-leading share of net account additions in an environment of moderating industry growth and fewer High Speed Internet only net account additions.
• Postpaid net customer additions of 1.6 million decreased 95 thousand year-over-year.
• Postpaid phone net customer additions of 760 thousand increased 37 thousand year-over-year, driven by an increase in postpaid phone gross additions and churn improvement. Postpaid phone churn of 0.77% improved 3 bps year-over-year.
• Prepaid net customer additions of 124 thousand decreased 22 thousand year-over-year, and Prepaid churn was 2.62%.
• High Speed Internet net customer additions of 509 thousand decreased 51 thousand year-over-year. T-Mobile ended the quarter with 3.7 million High Speed Internet customers.
• Total net customer additions of 1.7 million decreased 117 thousand year-over-year. The total customer count increased to a record high of 116.6 million.

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Meta trims CAPEX plans

In its quarterly financial report Meta disclosed plans to lower capital expenditures for full-year 2023 to be in the range of $27-30 billion, lowered from a prior estimate of $30-33 billion. 

The company said the reduced forecast is due to both cost savings, particularly on non-AI servers, as well as shifts in capital expenditures into 2024 from delays in projects and equipment deliveries rather than a reduction in overall investment plans. 

Meta also said it expects higher infrastructure-related costs next year, higher depreciation expenses, and higher operating costs from running a larger infrastructure footprint. 

https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2023/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2023-Results/default.aspx

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Juniper posts sales of $1.43B, better than expected results

 Juniper Networks reported quarterly net revenues of $1,430.1 million, an increase of 13% year-over-year and an increase of 4% sequentially. Non-GAAP operating margin was 16.9%, an increase from 13.9% in the second quarter of 2022, and an increase from 14.8% in the first quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP net income was $189.0 million, an increase of 39% year-over-year, and an increase of 21% sequentially, resulting in non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.58.

“We delivered better than expected results during the June quarter as our teams continued to execute well and we benefited from improved supply,” said Juniper’s CEO, Rami Rahim. “We were particularly encouraged by the momentum we experienced in our Enterprise business, which not only had a record quarter, but also represented both our largest and fastest growing vertical for a third consecutive quarter. Our Mist AI platform continues to win in the market, driving record revenue for our wireless, wired switching and SD-WAN offerings, along with a record number of full-stack wins, in the Q2 period. While we are currently facing some near-term order weakness from our Cloud and to a lesser degree our Service Provider customers, we remain confident in our ability to deliver long-term growth based on continued Enterprise momentum and our expectations for an eventual recovery in our Cloud business.”

“We delivered another quarter of improved profitability in Q2, as non-GAAP gross and operating margin both exceeded the mid-point of our guidance, which enabled us to achieve non-GAAP EPS toward the high-end of our outlook,” said Juniper’s CFO, Ken Miller. “While we expect revenue to be challenged over the next few quarters, we remain committed to delivering greater than 100 basis points of non-GAAP operating margin expansion in 2023.”

https://investor.juniper.net/investor-relations/financial-reports/default.aspx

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Global Telco AI Alliance gets underway

A new Global Telco AI Alliance backed by SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, e& and Singtel aims to transform the existing telco business and create new business opportunities with AI services.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in Seoul, the four carriers agreed to jointly develop a Telco AI Platform to serve as the core foundation for new AI services, including those designed to improve the existing telco services, digital assistants, and super apps that offer a wide range of services.  The four telcos also plan to support each other in operating AI services and apps in their respective markets and cooperate to build an ecosystem. 

"In order to make the most of the possibilities of generative AI for our customers and our industry, we want to develop industry-specific applications in the Global Telco AI Alliance. I am particularly pleased that this alliance also stands for bridging the gap between Europe and Asia and that we are jointly pursuing an open-vendor approach. Depending on the application, we can use the best technology. The founding of this alliance is an important milestone for our industry,” said Claudia Nemat, Board Member Technology and Innovation at Deutsche Telekom. 

https://www.telekom.com/en/media/media-information/archive/global-telco-ai-alliance-founded-1045156

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AT&T sets sights on profitable 5G and fiber customers, cost cutting

 AT&T posted Q2 revenues of $29.9 billion, up 0.9% year over year, and operating income of $6.4 billion, up 29.3% year over year. Communications Q2  revenues were $28.8 billion, up 0.5% year over year due to increases in Mobility and Consumer Wireline, which more than offset a decline in Business Wireline. Operating income was $7.2 billion, up 7.4% year over year, with operating income margin of 24.9%.

“The direction we set three years ago is sound, and we’re on the right trajectory. Compared to last year, Mobility service and broadband revenues are up, Adjusted EBITDA is up, free cash flow is up, Mobility and Consumer Wireline margins are up and customer lifetime values are up,” said John Stankey, AT&T CEO. “We’re focused on growing the right way, adding profitable 5G and fiber customers. We are also committing to an incremental $2 billion-plus in cost savings beyond the $6 billion we have accomplished over this period, reflecting our continued march to operating the company in a more focused and streamlined fashion. Our results give us full confidence in delivering our full-year financial guidance.”

Some highlights

• Mobility revenues were up 2.0% year over year to $20.3 billion due to higher service revenues, partially offset by lower equipment revenues. Service revenues were $15.7 billion, up 4.9% year over year, primarily driven by subscriber and postpaid ARPU growth. Equipment revenues were $4.6 billion, down 7.2% year over year, driven by lower volumes.
• Delivered 326,000 postpaid phone net adds with continued strong ARPU growth and historically low levels of churn
• Consumer wireline revenues were $3.3 billion, up 2.4% year over year due to gains in broadband more than offsetting declines in legacy voice and data and other services. Broadband revenues increased 7.0% due to fiber growth of 28.0%, partly offset by a 13.7% decline in non-fiber revenues.
• Total broadband net losses, excluding DSL, were 35,000, reflecting AT&T Fiber net adds of 251,000, more than offset by losses in non-fiber services. AT&T Fiber now has the ability to serve 20.2 million customer locations and offers symmetrical, multi-gig speeds across parts of its entire footprint of more than 100 metro areas.
• Latin America - Mexico revenues were $967 million, up 19.7% year over year due to growth in both service and equipment revenues. Service revenues were $635 million, up 18.9% year over year, driven by favorable foreign exchange, higher wholesale revenues and growth in subscribers. Equipment revenues were $332 million, up 21.2% year over year due to favorable foreign exchange and higher sales.

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Verizon posts Q2 wireless service revenue growth and cash flow

Verizon reported total operating revenue of $32.6 billion, a decrease of 3.5 percent from second-quarter 2022, however, total wireless service revenue grew 3.8 percent to $19.1 billion. Net income was $4.8 billion, a decrease of 10.3 percent from second-quarter 2022, and consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $12.0 billion, up 0.8 percent year over year.

Some highlights

Total Broadband:

• Total broadband net additions of 418,000, reflecting a strong demand for fixed wireless and Fios products. This result included 384,000 fixed wireless net additions, an increase from 256,000 fixed wireless net additions in second-quarter 2022. This is the third consecutive quarter that Verizon reported more than 400,000 broadband net additions. Verizon now has nearly 2.3 million subscribers on its fixed wireless service. 
• 54,000 Fios Internet net additions, an increase from 36,000 Fios Internet net additions in second-quarter 2022. 

Total Wireless: 

• Total wireless service revenue3 of $19.1 billion, a 3.8 percent increase year over year.
• Postpaid phone net additions of 8,000, and retail postpaid net additions of 612,000. Total wireless postpaid phone gross additions increased 2.0 percent year over year, primarily driven by a 6.9 percent year over year growth in Consumer postpaid phone gross additions.
• Total retail postpaid churn of 1.07 percent, and retail postpaid phone churn of 0.83 percent.
• 
  
  
  
  

"In the second quarter, we showed progress in our key priorities of growing wireless service revenue, delivering healthy consolidated adjusted EBITDA, and increasing free cash flow," said Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg. "We look forward to extending our network leadership in the second half of the year by continuing our rapid C-Band deployment as we are laser focused on providing value to our customers. The steps that we have taken to improve our operational performance are working, and we are confident that we will achieve our financial targets for the full year."

• Total Verizon Business revenue was $7.5 billion in second-quarter 2023, a decrease of 1.9 percent year over year. Growth in wireless service revenue was more than offset by lower wireline revenue and lower wireless equipment revenue.
• Business wireless service revenue was $3.4 billion, an increase of 5.3 percent year over year. This growth was driven by continued strong net additions and pricing actions implemented in recent quarters. 
• Business reported 308,000 wireless retail postpaid net additions in second-quarter 2023, including 144,000 postpaid phone net additions. This was the eighth consecutive quarter that Business reported more than 125,000 postpaid phone net additions. 

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/strong-wireless-service-revenue-growth-and-cash-flow-highlight-verizons-2q-results

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Orange group revenues climbed 2.6% in Q2

Orange Group revenues in Q2 reached EUR 10,926 billion, up 2.6% over a year earlier.

Some highlights:

• Accelerated revenue growth in the quarter was driven by the performance of retail services[3], which benefited from price increases. Retail services rose 4.3% in 2Q (+3.6% in 1H) and more than offset the continued decline in revenues from wholesale services, which fell 4.1% in 2Q (-5.9% in 1H). Equipment sales again recorded strong growth in 2Q with an 8% increase (+8.8% in 1H).
• France decreased 1.3% in 2Q (-1.5% in 1H), with the accelerated growth in retail services of 3.4% excluding PSTN unable to offset the anticipated decline in wholesale services revenues. Recent price increases will, however, yield results in the second half of the year.
• Europe grew 2.7% in 2Q (+3.3% in 1H), driven by Spain, which confirmed its recovery with an increase of 2.1%, and solid performances from Poland (+5.5%) and Belgium & Luxembourg (+3.0%).
• Africa & Middle East continued to post very strong growth rising 12.0% in 2Q (+10.5% in 1H) with double-digit increases across all growth engines (mobile data, fixed broadband, Orange Money, B2B).
• The Enterprise sector grew 2.4% in 2Q (+0.8% in 1H) as a result of revenues from IT & Integration services and Mobile, which more than offset the structural decline in the Voice and Data legacy businesses.

“Our first-half results are in line with our objectives for 2023. They confirm the relevance of the implementation process initiated in the context of our 'Lead the Future' strategic plan and provide confidence for the achievement of our 2025 objectives. In Europe and in France, our quarterly results in retail services show the positive momentum of our value strategy, underpinned by price increases the benefits of which in France will be fully visible in the second half of the year. We can also confirm the continuing recovery in Spain, where EBITDAaL rose by 11% in this first half. The excellent performance in Africa and the Middle East is down to our investments in the network, the satisfaction of our customers and the very strong rebound of Orange Money. These results offset those of Orange Business, whose EBITDAaL was still sharply lower despite a 2.4% increase in revenues in the second quarter. Our teams are fully focused on executing our transformation plan there,” stated Christel Heydemann, Chief Executive Officer of the Orange group.

https://newsroom.orange.com/accelerating/?lang=en

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Ribbon posts Q2 revenue of $211 million, rising IP Optical sales

Ribbon Communications Inc. reported revenue for the second quarter of 2023 of $211 million, compared to $206 million for the second quarter of 2022 and $186 million for the first quarter of 2023.

• International represented 53% of sales
• Enterprise represented 32% of product sales

"Ribbon delivered solid results in the second quarter with sequential and year-over-year growth in both revenue and earnings. IP Optical Networks continued to build momentum with sales increasing 24% versus the same period in 2022, extending the trend of double-digit growth for the fourth consecutive quarter. Shipments to India continued to grow, and our cross-sell strategy resulted in strong growth in North America and Japan. Sales of our Cloud & Edge communications products to Enterprise customers grew 94% year over year, including a new strategic U.S. Federal agency win supporting modernization of critical voice communications," stated Bruce McClelland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ribbon Communications. "We continue to anticipate a stronger second half and are maintaining our full year guidance range for 2023, but, due to the overall projected mix, Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be towards the lower half of our $95-110M range, a significant 50% improvement vs. 2022."

For the third quarter of 2023, the company projects revenue of $215 million to $225 million, Non-GAAP gross margin is projected in a range of 51.5% to 52.5%, and Adjusted EBITDA is projected in a range of $26 million to $32 million.

https://investors.ribboncommunications.com/static-files/d8e7d833-7d41-4feb-a215-67af3b90432a

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MaxLinear posts sales of $183.9 million in Q2, cancels Silicon Motion merger

MaxLinear reported Q2 net revenue of $183.9 million, down 26% sequentially and down 34% year-over-year.

GAAP gross margin was 55.9%, compared to 56.5% in the prior quarter, and 58.7% in the year-ago quarter.  GAAP diluted loss per share was $0.05, compared to diluted earnings per share of $0.12 in the prior quarter, and diluted earnings per share of $0.40 in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.34, compared to $0.74 in the prior quarter, and $1.11 in the year-ago quarter.

“Even as we navigate a challenging demand environment with fiscal discipline and operational efficiency, our solid execution and innovative product offerings are enabling us to maximize strategic business opportunities across all our end markets. In 2023, we continue to lay important groundwork in Wi-Fi, fiber broadband access gateways, and wireless and optical datacenter network infrastructure, which will be the foundation for our growth throughout 2024,” commented Kishore Seendripu, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO.

In addition, MaxLinear announced its decision to terminate its pending merger agreement with Silicon Motion. 

https://investors.maxlinear.com/news-events

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