2022 promises to be another “white hot” year for telecom M&A. Yes, fiber deals will continue to grab the headlines. But, cable assets are also worthy of your attention. Depending on their current condition, coax and HFC networks can be upgraded to enable service providers to deliver 1 Gbps services and beyond without making the move to Fiber-to-the-Home. In many cases, this can be done at a reasonable cost and with a modest level of effort.

Designing and maintaining a high-performance Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) network is a bit of a dance. You manage your signal strength along the transmission path to avoid two extremes: (1) too high a transmission level and you distort your signals, and (2) too low a transmission level and your weak signal will get lost in the noise.

Worldwide, operators of all types are turning up an increasing number of passive optical networks. Whether they are telcos transitioning off their legacy DSL platforms, overbuilders trying to reach multiple dwelling units, cable operators targeting greenfield builds or, increasingly, service providers entering currently underserved rural markets, there is an explosion in new fiber build activities.

We publish a chart every other week that captures an interesting data or talking point within the broader Communications Infrastructure and Cable, Satellite, and Telecom Services sectors. This week, we are highlighting the annual network OpEx cost differential between legacy hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) networks and FTTH networks.

Fueled, in part, by the global lock-down and work/school-from-home behavior, telecommunications has never been more essential. With more money chasing fewer opportunities, the investment community certainly recognizes this new reality. During frothy times with valuations exceeding 20x earnings, the need to critically assess all aspects of the business pre-bid is especially important. This starts with the network.

At Metro Connect USA 2021, we heard about the impact of Covid-19 on the demands for fiber compare to fixed wireless access (FWA). Chaired by Capacity Media’s Editor-at-large, Alan Burkitt-Gray, the pane consisted of Jason Nicolay, managing director at Houlihan Lokey; Alexander Schwartz, vice president at Tillman Infrastructure; Jack Burton, principal at Broadband Success Partners; and Mirko Voltolini, VP of strategy & innovation at Colt Technology Services

A quick look at the number of acquisitions within the communications services sector over the past few years indicates that the space has consistently attracted attention from the investment community. And while many of the private equity and other firms involved in these transactions have former communications executives on their management rosters, few are likely to have the depth of expertise necessary to fully audit the technical state of a potential acquisition target’s network...

"Wi-Fi is the Internet. The Internet is Wi-Fi.” So said one of the cable executives we recently interviewed. This captures how consumers view their in-home experience. It’s this perception that shapes the consumer-operator relationship: inbound call frequency, customer satisfaction levels, churn, etc. Given this reality, operators strive to deliver the best possible Wi-Fi experience for their customers...

While January 1, 1983 is considered the day the Internet was born, the gestation period started much earlier. Bob Metcalf, the Ethernet’s founding father, helped pioneer the Internet starting in 1970 – fifty years ago! While working at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Mr. Metcalfe delivered a memo outlining how to connect the think tank’s new personal computers to a shared printer...