Early Telco Reporters Verizon & Rogers Provide Mixed Signals For Vendors
The first sizable telcos reported 3Q17 earnings this morning: Verizon and Rogers. Both can point to reassuring bottom line results. For the 9 months ended September, operating & net margins improved year-over-year, as did earnings per share. Roge...read more
Communications Sector M&A Dominated By Infrastructure In 3Q17
October’s seen a few mergers already, including Airtel-TTSL, a tower sale by Zain and the long-rumored Sprint-T-Mobile transaction (confirmed yesterday). Some interesting deals came out of 3Q17 too, especially in infrastructure markets. 63 M&...read more
Decades-Long Copper Retirement Process Is Just Starting For Verizon And AT&T
Incumbent telcos in markets like the US have built their networks gradually, over many decades. In the access plant, the trend towards more fiber began in the 1990s – but applications, products, and overall economics have come together just in the ...read more
India’s RCom Under Pressure After Its Failed Merger With Aircel
Reliance Communications’ (RCom) long-planned merger with Aircel, part of Maxis, fell apart last week in the face of legal and regulatory hurdles. This news comes as multiple operators in India are struggling with debt and declining margins. Both...read more
Security Specialist Barracuda Reports 7% Revenue Growth; Margins Still An Issue
Barracuda Networks, a security/data protection solution vendor, yesterday reported $94.3M in revenues for the quarter ended August (~3Q17). That’s 7% growth from the prior year (June-August 2016). This growth rate would satisfy many companies, in...read more
Third Quarter Earnings Season Around The Corner (And Yes, It’s Cloudy)
Over the next 3 weeks, companies across the communications sector will begin reporting third quarter (3Q17) results. Watch for telco progress The world has never been so reliant on secure communications, but the underlying market is in a bit of...read more
Comtech Expects Flat 2018; US Market An Issue?
If you follow telecom closely yet haven’t heard of Comtech, that’s no surprise. Acquisition of TCS in 2016 doubled the company’s size Comtech Telecommunications Corp. is far smaller than the biggest vendors in the market (Huawei, Ericss...read more
China Mobile To Go (More) Global?
Buying opportunities During the 2008-9 financial crisis, some wondered (including me) if the relatively flush Chinese operators would use the downturn as a buying opportunity into overseas telco markets. China Mobile seemed promising, given its (n...read more