Oct 16, 2019

You're Building a Submarine Cable Where?

It turns out that the Arctic isn't the easiest place to lay a cable.

Expensive and logistically challenging, Arctic cables are at the center of one of our recommended reads for this month. If you're up for a story that includes forged signatures, Arctic ambitions, and the dynamite quote, “The question is not why Elizabeth did it, but rather, how did she think she’d get away with it?”—then keep reading, my friends.

Oct 10, 2019

Termination Rates Continue Downward Trend

Mobile termination rates (MTRs) have been falling steadily over the past decade. That trajectory is set to continue through the next few years.

Under the Calling Party Pays (CPP) system, which applies to the bulk of mobile markets worldwide, incoming calls are free and the cost of the call is covered by the originating user. Termination rates are designed to allow cellcos at the receiving end of a call to recoup their costs in these markets.

Oct 8, 2019

Is Your Planned Submarine Cable Doomed?

Anyone who follows the submarine cable sector knows that a lot of cables have been built in recent years—and investments in new cables keep coming.

I gave a presentation at Submarine Networks World 2019 in Singapore titled "Is Your Planned Submarine Cable Doomed?" My goal was not to identify particular planned cables that I think are doomed to fail, but rather to highlight some of the key flaws we often see when assessing cable operator business plans on behalf of investors.

Oct 3, 2019

Signals of Success: What to Look for in Submarine Cable Press Releases

I'm a cynic and you can be one, too!

This was the title of Tim Stronge's presentation during a recent webinar we did with our friends at Ciena.

Our favorite neighborhood cynic came bearing an important public service announcement for webinar attendees: just because you see a flashy slide deck or press release about a new submarine cable doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Sep 30, 2019

The Changing Face of the U.S. MVNO Market

The United States boasts one of the largest MVNO markets in the world and has hosted hundreds of disparate virtual operators and sub-brands over the last two decades. As the broader retail telecom market evolves, so does the MVNO sector.

Today we look at the competitive environment and the players shaping the U.S. MVNO industry.

WAN
Sep 26, 2019

Wargaming Your WAN: Aggregator Broadband & SD-WAN

Elizabeth here again. I’m back for our seventh installment on wargaming your wide area network. This is the series in which we build a hypothetical network, make a bunch of noteworthy changes, chart the results, and then tell you everything we learned.

Sep 24, 2019

5G Rollouts Put the Pedal to the Metal

Lots of 5G news this week. Most notably, almost a quarter-billion new LTE connections were added worldwide in Q2 2019, according to 5G Americas.

You can read all about 5G mania below. There are also some worthy headlines about internet speeds, India's telecom battle, and a great interview between Recode's Kara Swisher and Huawei’s chief security officer in the U.S. Andy Purdy. 

WAN
Sep 19, 2019

Three Facts About Network Benchmarking

If we were to take our blog and make one of those word clouds that you saw at every tech summit in the mid-aughts (or on many an inspirational Pinterest board, for that matter), there's one word that would be pretty big. Benchmarking.

Sep 16, 2019

Jio Prepares for Round Two

The stage is set for India’s second telecom battle in the space of three years.

Sep 5, 2019

Capacity Europe 2019 Seeks to Disrupt

Across the board, technology is disrupting the way business is done.

This October, Capacity Europe will explore the latest telecom disruptors, including 5G, IoT, AI, smart networks, and content provisioning.