Reliance

Middle East undersea cable cuts strike again

Doug Mohney — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:49:01 -0500

Internet service in Egypt, the UAE, India and other counties in the region was interrupted today when submarine cables in the Mediterranean Sea failed.

Cause of the failure is not known at this time, says operator Reliance GlobalCom. A total of three cables linking Italy and Egypt went down. A ship has been sent out to fix the problems.

Currently, services are being rerouted to backup cables and satellites. As rerouting measures fully kick in, services are expected to improve by early Saturday morning.

This isn't the first time that cable service to the region has failed. Earlier this year, five separate undersea cables were cut between late January and early February, interrupting service to a number of countries.

There's likely to be some serious failure analysis involved if we see some more pipes go off-line in the next week.

For more:
- News report on the cable failure. Article.

Internap takes $99.7 million CDN charge

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:09:15 -0500

Internap Network Services announced in advance of its third quarter earnings report that it was taking a $99.7 million charge on the write-down of content delivery network assets related to last year's acquisition of VitalStream. The CDN market has been seen as quite turbulent in the last year or so, as larger telco network operators have begun to move in on the market.

Some CDN players have made recent technology and service advances as a result, with Limelight Networks recently upgrading its global CDN capacity, Akamai acquiring targeted ad firm acerno and reporting strong Q3 earnings, and Internap establishing an Asia-focused partnership with Reliance Globacom. Most recently, Level 3 Communications, not to be out-done by traditional CDN companies, just last week announced a major CDN expansion in Asia.

For more:
- Light Reading's Contentinople has more about the Internap charge

T-Systems expands in U.S. with XO

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:25:53 -0400

T-Systems, the corporate enterprise-focused unit of Germany's Deutsche Telekom that once seemed to be destined to be sold by DT, is expanding services into six major U.S. metropolitan markets. T-Systems has chosen XO Communications as its network partner for the expansion, which is targeting Atlanta, Boston, Columbus, Denver, Houston and Seattle.

It's the latest step for a company with a multi-protocol label switching-based network that already reaches into 50 countries. The DT unit reportedly was restructured just last year, after rumored efforts to sell it did not culminate in a deal. T-Systems also becomes the latest international firm looking to make a bigger splash in the U.S. market, joining carriers such as BT, Orange Business Services and Reliance Globalcom.

For more:
- Xchange has this post

Verizon Business

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:25:12 -0400

Location: New York City, NY

Why it's so cutting-edge: We are not talking about Verizon as a whole here. Verizon Business, the former MCI, has been pressing forward in every direction, literally and figuratively. It recently made a major push into India, joined the active undersea cable market, led the charge toward 100 Gbps transport, carried the torch for corporate enterprise network security, pushed virtualization services and it even went green. There's probably more, but we don't have time.

But can it keep its edge? Companies like BT, Orange and Reliance Globalcom are pushing into the U.S., carriers like Cogent and XO are aggressive with Ethernet, but Verizon Business seems to be keeping pace with all of them.

Reliance may go Hollywood with Spielberg

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:38:51 -0400

Reliance Communications was said to be close to an agreement with movie director and studio mogul Steven Spielberg about buying as much as a 50 percent stake in a newly reconfigured version of Spielberg's DreamWorks venture. The deal could be worth around $1.2 billion. Reliance actually has an entertainment unit, and a deal has been rumored for some time. While U.S. telcos have mostly stayed out of investing money in content ownership, other telcos around the world have had closer ties with the entertainment industry. Still, a move by Reliance to own half of a Hollywood studio would be another bold move by an Indian company rapidly working its way into U.S. markets.

For more:
- read this story at BusinessWeek

Reliance-MTN deal talks rocky as deadline nears

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:31:09 -0400

India's Reliance Communications has been in exclusive talks to merge with South Africa's MTN Group, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting that "people familiar with the matter" are saying that a deal is unlikely to happen by the companies' self-imposed deadline tomorrow. Still, the negotiating period may be extended, so the potential deal may not be in too much danger.

Reliance has rapidly become a global wireline and wireless powerhouse, having acquired companies such as U.S.-based Yipes Enterprise Services in recent years, and the MTN deal could be its most significant yet. It could create a company with more than 100 million mobile customers in India, the Middle East and Africa. However, internal squabbling at Reliance reportedly has been one of the factors hindering the deal, as well as deal structure (the companies have talked both about MTN acquiring Reliance and about Reliance acquiring MTN).

If the deal fails to materialize, could new suitors emerge for both companies?

For more:
- read this story at The Wall Street Journal

Related articles:
Reliance Globalcom absorbed the Yipes brand earlier this year Reliance report
Reliance has been planning to launch IPTV by the end of this year Reliance report