FTTH keeps moving ahead in August

Returning from a long holiday period, I want to summarize the big news of August, with a T.I.M. (telecom internet media) twist.


1. FTTH
The local Metro free daily reports on Reggefiber. This Dik Wessels (a Dutch billionaire who made his money in the construction sector, as well as by being part of World Online when it went public) vehicle builds out in the Netherlands. The costs are EUR 1000 for passing and EUR 300-400 for connecting a home. Reggefiber intends to add 150k connections a year, or 50% of the nations total FTTH connections.

Other new deployments were planned in Barcelona (Spain), Mauritius, Hawaii, Canberra (Australia), Chattanooga (Tennessee) and Iowa, Dundas (Minnesota?) and South Africa. Again, lots of activity in the US, as well as another utility (EPB in Chattanooga) joining. Who has additional English language information on Adamo Europe (the one doing Barcelona)?

Also, Telekom Slovenija detailed its plans (still among very few PTTs/ILECs), devoting EUR 450m.

Finally, PacketFront has acquired DynamicCity, operating the UTOPIA network in Utah (that looks like an interesting deal!).


2. Third Pipe
KPN is testing both WiMAX (with Samsung) and HSPA (with Ericsson) for rural access. This is a fixed (DSL) replacement service first of all, so don't count WiMAX out just yet. In fact, it could be clever from the point of view of traffic unloading: mobile networks are much more capacity constrained than fixed networks, to it could be wise to dedicate HSPA to mobile wireless access.

Further, Sprint detailed its WiMAX plans ('Xohm'), very much a mobile offering. But then, they have CDMA and Nextel for 'offloading' voice and P2T.

Finally, DirecTV enters the BPL market by teaming with Current Group (Google and Hearst hold a stake). Its coverage area is very limited, so DirecTV will still need to team with others.


3. Consolidation
The KPN takeover of Tele2/Versatel Belgium lead to some interesting (albeit obvious) conclusions: KPN is serious about Belgium, but a Belgacom merger will not happen; the same strategy will likely be followed in Germany, perhaps involving Versatel Germany (no longer related to Tele2/Versatel); after that, who knows what - France ?


4. Credit crunch
Over at Wolters Kluwer, $12m in sales is affected. A small acquisition can be seen as mitigating this.

McGraw-Hill and Moody's are bleeding.