Bermuda's incumbent service provider Bermuda Telephone Company (BTC) has launched its new PRISM fiber network. As a multi-purpose network, BTC said it will have enough capacity to fulfill various consumer and business services, including voice, video, wireless and Carrier Ethernet.

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With the integration of the former Verizon rural lines into its fold, Frontier has been building out its metro and core fiber network to deliver a suite of fiber and even copper-based Ethernet services to businesses.

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As service providers look to transition to an all-packet based network, the Packet Optical Transport System (P-OTS) has emerged as the mechanism that can support packet transport services such as Carrier Ethernet and MPLS over optical networks.

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While this network expansion effort was related to a specific wireless customer, the build out will have implications for other wireline wholesale customers and business customers that are looking for an alternative source for fiber-based Carrier Ethernet services.

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Although both service providers were raised in separate markets with little overlap as traditional independent telcos, their overall strategy in recent years has been to transform themelves into broadband and IP-centric services providers, offering consumers and businesses an array of IPTV and Carrier Ethernet services.

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Lightower is giving its carrier and business customers in Providence, R.I., more options with the addition of 21 miles of new fiber routes that will serve the Pawtucket and Seekonk communities.  Lightower offers connectivity to all of its fiber-based Ethernet and transport services.

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Overture's appointment of new sales leads to oversee four key EMEA-APAC regions--including India, Italy, Malaysia and Russia--instantly gives the vendor locally-based support to serve new growth opportunities outside of North America, the company said Tuesday. The naming of these new sales managers follows similar moves to bolster its sales efforts in both Canada and the Caribbean and the Latin American markets. Its international expansion is in-line with the goals the company set when it launched its rebranding initiative in February, following its acquisition of Hatteras Networks. "We've always done well in the U.S. and have had good ...

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Driven by the ongoing growth of IP on-net fiber-based services like Ethernet and Unified Communications (UC), Allstream reported that it increased EBITDA by 1.7 percent, to CAD 29.3 million (USD 29.2 million). Converged IP services rose 4.1 percent, to CAD 61.1 million (USD 61 million), while Unified Communications revenues were up 0.9 percent, to CAD 21.8 million (USD 21.7 million).

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It will also offer businesses what it says is a suite of "competitively priced high speed Internet, digital phone, Hosted PBX and other advanced services" like Ethernet.

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First Communications wants to give any existing or new customers a commitment that it will deliver what it promises by introducing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for its local access services. The new SLAs were introduced just in time for the debut of its MPLS network and set of Metro Ethernet and MPLS-based services. With its FirstConnection solution, the Akron, Ohio-based competitive provider promises network availability of 99.9 percent in addition to provisioning and four-hour Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) specifications for all of its ISDN PRI, T1 and Ethernet-based data services.   First Communications CMO John Musci said the company ...

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Comcast continues to make a name for itself in the voice business. The top cable operator garnered top honors for its hosted VoIP service in an Infonetics Research survey. Verizon Business, meanwhile, turned in the top score among IP connectivity providers.  

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Lightower Fiber Networks is strengthening its Central and Northern New Jersey fiber optic network by adding over 100 new miles of glass through Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Morris, Middlesex and Mercer counties.  

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The never-ending hunger for higher speed broadband wireline- and wireless-based data services is driving new dark fiber services revenue. New data from IBISWorld revealed that by the end of 2012 dark fiber revenues will grow at an average annual rate of 3.7 percent, to reach $986.2 million.  

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Cbeyond has put more fiber in its diet by establishing network relationships with FiberLight and Zayo, two arrangements that will immediately extend its reach into a larger set of buildings and SMB locations.  

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Consolidated Communications (Nasdaq: CNSL), which is in the process of acquiring fellow ILEC SureWest (Nasdaq: SURW), saw its share of IP service growing pains as it reported first-quarter 2012 revenues of $93.4 million, down 1.4 percent year-over-year, from $95.4 million in Q1 2011.  

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Lumos Networks is making its mark on the data-center services market, with its new colocation service for customers in its Mid-Atlantic serving region. Serving as a complement to its set of Metro Ethernet, MPLS and DIA-based data services, the Waynesboro, Va.-based ILEC's colocation service is part of its broader Data Center Services portfolio. Through this new product portfolio, Lumos can address two key trends: provide a facility to house servers and store data and address the emerging cloud services trend. Besides helping business customers reduce their own colocation costs by outsourcing their colocation to a third party, a ...

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SureWest Communications reported that its first-quarter 2012 revenue rose 3.6 percent, to $62.8 million, up from $60.6 million, due to an increase in broadband revenue.  

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Still, efforts to build truly high speed, future-proof networks are moving forward, through both nonprofit organizations as well as private companies that are staking their future profitability on network builds--not just fiber, but hybrid networks featuring coax and fiber, like those being built by MSOs like Comcast. Upgrading the capacity of copper has enabled Ethernet over Copper services to remain viableand will extend the service life of the existing copper network.

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FairPoint Communications reported revenue of $248.5 million for the first quarter of 2012, down from $254.8 million in Q4 2011, due to an expected decline in voice access lines, but growth in business and broadband services continue to close that gap. In Q1 2012, FairPoint's results included a reversal of $1.2 million in penalties, down from the $3.9 million in reversal of service quality penalties in Q4 2011. The service provider narrowed its losses to $46.7 million, down from the $84.0 million it reported in Q4 2011. On the regulatory front, the service ...

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tw telecom is addressing the challenge that competitive providers face in trying to expand their out-of-region Ethernet and network reach with its national Ethernet solution. Targeted at international carriers and cloud application providers--which typically don't own a lot of their own domestic network facilities--the new service allows these service providers to get access to what tw telecom says is thousands of enterprise customers and buildings via a single Ethernet connection. Having a single provider to get to multiple Ethernet connections means that these service providers don't have to seek out multiple individual External Network to Network Interconnection (E-NNI ...

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XO Communications' cloud-centric subsidiary Concentric Cloud Solutions may sound new, but the name dates back to the late 1990s as a fledgling web hosting company that eventually merged with Nextlink to form today's XO. By giving the brand new life, the new unit hopes to take charge of the relatively untapped SMB cloud services market, offering a suite of virtualization, content acceleration, and interactive contact center solutions. Led by XO alum Mike Toplisek, who is now the president of the new unit, Concentric will deliver its services via a mix of its own cloud technology and from partners such ...

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tw telecom's laser focus on selling Business Ethernet, converged and IP VPN solutions to enterprises is a formula that continues to work for the Littleton, Colo.-based CLEC as it reported that revenues rose to $358.9 million, up 2.1 percent from $351.5 million in Q4 2011. On a year-over-year basis, the CLEC's revenue increased 7.9 percent, or $26.4 million from Q1 2011. "We posted our 30th consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth, delivered strong margins, and grew both net income and levered free cash flow, while we continued to advance the business with ...

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Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is bolstering its Asia Pacific data-center holdings by acquiring Hong Kong-based data center provider Asia Tone for $230.5 million. By purchasing Asia Tone, Equinix immediately adds five data centers and one disaster recovery center, in addition to one data center under construction in three markets: Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. Asia Tone's current customer base includes a number of existing Equinix customers.

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Global Telecom & Technology Inc. (OTC BB: GTLT), one of the original Virtual Network Operators (VNO), is bolstering its global network footprint by acquiring privately-held nLayer Communications. While neither company revealed the dollar amount of the deal, the key asset that McLean, Va.-based GTT gains here is nLayer's IP/MPLS network, which reaches into 24 major metro domestic and international markets, including in North America, Europe and Asia. When combined, the new company will be able to provide a wider range of products and services, including cloud, Ethernet and IP Transit. Rick Calder, president and chief executive officer of ...

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