BUSINESS ANALYSIS FOR TELECOMS PROFESSIONALS LEADER NETWORK RULE

Content is driving growth in Internet services, but network operators are once more demonstrating their critical role

Ian Kemp Editor

Total Telecom+

Global Crossing at the height of the dotcom boom those companies to many represented all that was good and bad about the time. Both had ambitious plans to build fibre/IP networks to serve enterprise and telco customers and challenge the entrenched incumbent operators; but ultimately their businesses were not founded on sound enough demand for services in the face of their rapid growth. For Global Crossing that led to a filing for bankruptcy protection from which it emerged in 2003. How things have changed. Last

W

Network operators are reaffi rming their importance

month Level 3 announced an agree- ment to buy Global Crossing in a US$3 billion deal including debt, and the continued stellar growth of Internet content and demand for bandwidth is set to provide a solid business foundation for the merged companies. They are still not turning a profit yet: financial analysts say Level 3 has not posted annual profits since 1998 and Global Crossing last did so the year it emerged from bankruptcy. Crucially, though, Level 3

hen we were writing regularly about Level 3 Communications and

numbers among its customers some of the key content service providers . Snapping up Global Crossing— which serves 40% of Fortune 500 enterprises and 700 operators and ISPs—will extend globally the reach of its content delivery network (CDN), a key component of Internet traffic delivery for operators and end users in future. Our Technology Trends article

on p.7 shows just how key CDNs will be and why operators are also developing such platforms in order to grow new revenue streams. CDNs promise both to ease network congestion and to improve the user experience, and operators could use their infrastructure and customer data to build new business. But they will face stiff competition, both from specialists like Level 3 and the big content providers such as Google / YouTube. Just as fibre will underpin the

Level 3 / Global Crossing strategy, accelerated fibre network rollout in Africa is promising finally to propel that continent into a vibrant hub for international communications services (p.13). Africa is also one of the locations for new telemedicine announcements as operators including Orange and Telefonica are starting to bet big on health- care services built on their mobile and fixed network expertise (p.17). Many say that content is king, but network owners are once more reaffirming their importance. n

CONTENTS NEWS IN BRIEF 3 Timeline

A roundup of some of the major stories reported in our daily news service www.totaltele.com

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

7 Content delivery networks

Operators are turning to content delivery networks to ease the Internet traffic burden, and that could result in new services and revenue streams.

NETWORK STRATEGIES 13 Africa fi bre

Africa could finally be emerging as a vibrant international services market as operators invest in terrestrial fibre.

SECTOR SERVICES 17 Healthcare

Operators are set to play a key role in healthcare services in future.

STATISTICS 20 Prime Numbers

Super-fast broadband, mobile backhaul and LTE network spend.

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MAY 2011

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