Across The Telecom Spectrum: 6 Moves That Made Waves In The Channel In May

Making Moves

Telecom providers have been busy this spring acquiring new fiber and investing heavily in bolstering their wired and wireless networks as the race to 5G accelerates. At the same time, telecom executives were also on the move during May.

Here are six newsworthy items that happened in the telecom industry last month that solution providers should know about.

AT&T Invests $975M To Give Florida Networks A Boost

Dallas-based carrier AT&T revealed that it has put nearly $975 million toward bolstering its network in South Florida.

The provider said that its investments enhance reliability, coverage, speed, security, and overall performance for residents and businesses across its wireless and wired networks throughout Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. In addition, AT&T said that last year it made nearly 950 wireless network upgrades in the Key West, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas.

Verizon Inks Another Deal For More Fiber-Optic Cable

For the second consecutive month, telecom giant Verizon signed a major optical cable contract. Verizon inked a three-year deal with the Prysmian Group, a manufacturer of electric power transmission and telecommunications cables and systems worth $300 million.

Verizon in April signed a deal to purchasing $1.05 billion in fiber-optic cable from specialty manufacturing company Corning. Like the Corning deal, the Prysmian deal will help Verizon expand its network capacity rapidly and speed its 5G deployment plans, the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier said.

Frontier Taps Former Google Fiber Leader To Lead Field Operations

Frontier Communications brought on a former Google Fiber leader to run its field operations.

Chris Levendos, Google Fiber's head of Network Deployment and Operations, is Frontier's new executive vice president of field operations. Levendos is replacing John Lass, who plans to retire, according to the Stamford, Conn.-based carrier. Levendos will be reporting to CEO Dan McCarthy.

Frontier posted disappointing earnings in early May, once again missing Wall Street estimates and losing subscribers. The carrier also slashed its dividends by 62 percent in May.

TPx Brings On TWC Channel Veteran Jim Delis

Newly rebranded TPx Communications, formally TelePacific Communications, has brought on Jim Delis as senior vice president of national channel development.

A channel veteran, Delis served as group vice president of partner channels for Time Warner Cable for the last six and a half years prior to Charter Communications' purchase of the company. Prior to that role, he led sales and channel marketing for XO Communications.

In his new role with TPx, he will focus on expanding the company's relationships within the master agent community as TPx expands its footprint nationally. Delis will report to CEO Dick Jalkut.

B roadsoft Makes Broadcloud PaaS Platform Available To Telecom Service Providers

BroadSoft, a unified communications software and service supplier, made its managed cloud infrastructure offering commercially available as BroadCloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

BroadCloud PaaS lets service providers develop and bring to market customizable cloud unified communication and collaboration services for their end customers. The scalable platform gives providers control over customizations and integrations, the Gaithersburg, Md.-based provider said.

TierPoint Expands, Builds New Data Center Facilities

Cloud provider and data center operator TierPoint spent the month of May announcing plans to expand its market presence.

TierPoint announced it is expanding its facility in Hawthorne, N.Y., by 38,000 square feet. The addition will let the provider accommodate more financial customers in the midtown and lower Manhattan areas of New York City, the St. Louis-based company said.

The provider also will be building a second data center in the Tulsa area. TierPoint will partner with Compass Datacenters to build a 60,000 square-foot facility. The new facility will include infrastructure support and office space, according to TierPoint.