Verizon (NYSE: VZ) may not be bringing FiOS to Boston proper anytime soon, but residential and business customers in the nearby city of Medford may be soon be able to take advantage of the service as the telco has applied for a license to operate in the city.

Medford mayor Michael J. McGlynn insists that one of the key points of the negotiation process is that Verizon will bring FiOS to a part of west Medford they have not built out to yet.

“That’s the one part of this (agreement) that was critical for me,” McGlynn told The Boston Globe. “It states that we will both continue to negotiate, to get the other 29 percent of the community wired.”

Feeling that the city needed another video service alternative to satellite and the area’s dominant cable provider Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), McGlynn asked Robert Mudge, president of Consumer and Mass Business Markets at Verizon to complete the FiOS buildout it began in Medford in 2009.

The telco stopped work on fiber to the premises (FTTP) network infrastructure in Medford in 2010 following a companywide decision to halt the buildout of FiOS in new communities and stop franchise negotiations with communities like Medford.

Although Verizon already offers FiOS in 111 Massachusetts towns and cities, Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro said it has no immediate plans to extend the service to other locations.

“We have finished franchising,” Santoro wrote in an e-mail to the Globe. “Medford is the last one. We already started the process in Medford when we wrapped up the FiOS franchising efforts.”

For more:
- The Boston Globe has this article

Related articles:
Verizon Q4 2011 wireline results get boost from FiOS video, broadband adds
Is cable the right complement to Verizon’s FiOS network?
Verizon to fill in FiOS gaps with home LTE wireless service
Verizon’s Q3 wireline story driven by consumer, business gains

Source:Fierce Telecom

AT&T’s (NYSE: T) wireline division in Q4 2011 was once again buoyed by gains in its U-verse broadband and video services and IP-based business services. The service provider reported that the fourth quarter was the second consecutive quarter of sequential wireline business revenue growth, a 44 percent increase in U-verse revenues and solid cost management.

Click here for selected slides from AT&T’s investor presentation.

Wireline consumer and business services both saw gains in Q4 2011.

In the consumer segment, the continued adoption of IP-based data services helped drive up residential service revenue to $5.4 billion, up 0.5 percent over Q4 2010. This was the sixth quarter of year-over-year growth.

Driven by U-verse broadband and TV services, consumer wireline revenue per household rose 7 percent over Q4 2010 and 2.3 percent sequentially.

Likewise, IP-based data services were a key driver in the business segment. During the quarter, next-gen service revenue, including Ethernet, VPN, hosting and IP conferencing services, grew 16.4 percent since Q4 2010.

Here’s a breakdown of key wireline metrics:

Consumer wireline Voice: As expected, AT&T reported that consumer revenue connections dropped due to ongoing declines in traditional voice access lines. At the end of Q4 2011, AT&T had 41.3 million consumer revenue connections, down from the 43.4 million it had at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010 and 41.9 million at the end of Q3 of 2011. These landline losses were slightly offset by increases in U-verse TV and VoIP services. In Q4 2011, the telco added 136,000 new U-verse voice connections and 598,000 over the past four quarters. 

Broadband and video: During the quarter, the service provider added 208,000 AT&T U-verse TV and 587,000 U-Verse Internet customers, but posted a net loss of 49,000 broadband customers due to users in non U-verse markets adopting faster cable modem connections. However, it continues to make gains with U-verse, passing over 30 million living units. At the end of the quarter AT&T had a total of 5.6 million video subscribers, a figure that consists of both U-verse and bundled satellite customers. 

Business services: AT&T’s bet on Ethernet, VPN and other IP-based services paid off in Q4 as total business revenues grew sequentially for the second consecutive quarter. Although business revenues of $9.3 billion were down 1.4 percent from Q4 2010, they were slightly ahead of Q3 2011. The service provider attributes the year-over-year decline to economic conditions and weakness in voice and legacy data products, which was somewhat offset by IP data growth.

From an overall revenue standpoint, AT&T reported that consolidated revenues for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, totaled $32.5 billion, up $1.1 billion, or 3.6 percent over the same quarter in 2010.

Looking forward towards 2012, the service provider said it expects consolidated revenue growth of 2 percent for the year and keeping wireline margins stable.

For more:
- see the earnings release
- Reuters has this article

Special report: Wireline in the fourth quarter 2011

Related articles:
AT&T U-verse, IP business services drove Q3 2011 wireline growth
AT&T’s wireline voice declines drive more job cuts in Connecticut
AT&T launches cloud-based unified communications service
AT&T takes leadership spot on Gartner’s APAC service provider quadrant

Source:Fierce Telecom

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is extending its Private IP network services to more regions in Africa and the Middle East to better respond to the greater demand from businesses establishing locations in these emerging markets.

Multinational corporation customers that have locations in these markets will be able use Verizon to connect with other locations in more established markets such as the Europe and U.S.

Through a combination of its own global MPLS network and its service provider partner Vodacom Business in Africa, Verizon enterprise customers will be able to get access to Private IP services in four key African markets: Gabon; Djibouti and Ethiopia on the Horn of Africa; Malawi and Zimbabwe in Eastern Africa; and Swaziland in the southern region.

In total, Verizon will now offer its Private IP services in a total of 21 countries.

Complementing Verizon’s connectivity services, will be a set of professional consulting service that will help them design and implement a networking solution that best fits their individual needs.  

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
Verizon Q4 2011 wireline results get boost from FiOS video, broadband adds
Verizon’s Q3 wireline story driven by consumer, business gains
Verizon wins prime contractor role in $186M USPS telecom network upgrade
Report: Verizon wireline assets sale could make strategic sense

Source:Fierce Telecom

Puerto Rico incumbent service provider Claro’s IPTV ambitions are facing a new legal challenge from cable rivals OneLink Communications and Choice Cable.

In September 2011, Puerto Rico’s Telecommunications Regulatory Board (TRB) approved Claro’s application for an IPTV license three years after the provider applied for it.

This is not the first time Claro has faced opposition from the island’s cable operators. Previously OneLink won an objection to Claro’s initial application, but Puerto Rico’s Supreme court overruled the object in June 2010.

With the TRB’s approval for its IPTV license in November 2011, the service provider can deliver IPTV services despite any pending legal actions launched against them. Regardless of this issue, OneLink said it will work to get the decision to grant Claro by presenting what alleged evidence of illegal commercial practices, including “crossed subsidies, between (Claro’s) telephone and Claro TV services.”

For more:
- TeleGeography has this article

Related articles:
Week in research: Carrier Ethernet rises; Puerto Rico wireline stagnates
Ron Martin parts ways with ADVA; Puerto Rico to double its data revenue
Unraveling Latin America’s pay TV opportunity
Netflix in Latin America: Is success guaranteed?

Source:Fierce Telecom

NTT Communications (NYSE: NTT) wants to take advantage of the India’s data center market and it found a quick entry point by purchasing a 74 percent stake in Netmagic Solutions.

Through the purchase, NTT instantly aligns itself with a company that currently has over 1,000 business customers that are served from data centers in a number of major cities in India, including Mumbai, Chennai, Noida (Delhi-NCR) and Bangalore.

As expected, NTT’s acquisition will have to get the sign off from Indian regulators.

Like other international expansion moves it has made over the past year, the Netmagic acquisition is in line with NTT’s Global Cloud Vision, an initiative set on delivering end-to-end cloud services for large multinational corporation customers, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
NTT Europe continues expansion with new PoP in Amsterdam
NTT Europe develops gateway to the African market via Dimension Data
NTT Communications furthers its IP network reach in Eastern Europe
Chunghwa Telecom to participate in Asia-Pacific Gateway submarine network

Source:Fierce Telecom

FierceCable editor Steve Donohue talks with Larry Robinson, Corporate VP & General Manager of Home Devices, Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI), about the changing nature of how video is delivered and distributed throughout a consumer home. Robinson believes that traditional DVRs will be replaced with home video gateways that will let providers send video services across a number of devices, including gaming consoles, tablet computers, and thin client IP set-tops. Despite the promise of the video gateway, Robinson revealed that service providers, including advocates of the approach like Verizon (NYSE: VZ), will face challenges in supporting the delivery of video services securely to a Microsoft Xbox 360 device. Read more…

Source:Fierce Telecom

MTS Allstream (Toronto: MBT.TO) continued make good on its aggressive fiber buildout throughout 2011 and into 2012 as a way to attract more business customers.

In 2011, the service provider added 299 buildings to its network, including 75 in Q4, bringing its total number of on-net fiber-fed buildings to 2,338 as of the end of December.  

This aggressive buildout has paid off as the service provider reported that it signed 46 new service contracts that are buying services delivered on its network.

Among some of the customers that signed onto MTS Allstream’s network include Ad knowledge, Caltech Surveys, TEOPS Canada Corporation, dys architecture, Trispec Communications, Heathbridge Capital Management, Vivonet Canada, IBI Group, Voyer Marketing & Associés and World Trade Group (North America).

While it has not announced its Q4 2011 earnings yet, converged IP services were a major seller for MTS Allstream in 2011. During Q3 2011, converged IP revenues rose 9.8 percent to CAD 59.4 million (USD 58.3 million), a figure that makes up almost 30 percent of Allstream’s total revenue mix

For more:
- see the release

Special report: Wireline in the fourth quarter 2011

Related articles:
Allstream lights up 100G network with Ciena
MTS Allstream: Q3 IP service revenue gains offset by legacy service declines
MTS Allstream’s Q2 earnings improve, driving increase in 2011 revenue guidance
Allstream signs 60 new IP-based business contracts in Q2

Source:Fierce Telecom