
- Zayo preps new US fibre rollout to support AI traffic
- Netflix reports bumper 2024 numbers
- e& teams up with IBM, DE-CIX
In today’s industry news roundup: Zayo is expanding and upgrading its US long-distance data network to cope with AI traffic demand; Netflix now has more than 300 million subs and is making a lot of money; e& has teamed with IBM for AI governance and DE-CIX for international internet exchange services expansion; and much more!
Long-distance network operator Zayo has unveiled plans to build more than 5,000 fibre route miles in the US “to meet the growing demands of AI workloads”. The operator says the planned investment, which wasn’t specified, “will be critical to averting a potential bandwidth gap in the US as AI-driven datacentre capacity is expected to grow two to six times over the next five years.” Zayo plans to build five new long-haul routes and overbuild seven existing routes over the next five years: You can see the details of the routes in this press release. Zayo’s announcement was timely, as it came as OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and investment firm MGX announced plans to invest $500bn over the next four years in AI infrastructure in the US. Zayo’s CEO, Steve Smith, noted: “Keeping pace with the next wave of AI growth will require new long-haul networks to enable the rapid scaling of capacity needs in both existing and emerging AI datacentre markets. In 2024, Zayo saw significant AI-driven demand for long-haul routes, including more than $1bn in AI-related deals and an additional $3bn in pipeline. This demand shows no signs of letting up. As the complexity of long-haul builds continues to be prohibitive to many providers, Zayo remains the only company building long-haul routes at scale to lead this next phase of infrastructure growth,” added the CEO, a statement that is sure to raise eyebrows at the likes of Lumen Technologies, which spent 2024 announcing major network capacity deals and investments with hyperscalers, such as Meta and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Netflix had a bumper 2024, reporting a 16% increase in full year revenues to $39bn and a 50% increase in operating profit to $10.42bn. Its fourth-quarter sales exceeded $10bn and are expected to reach $10.42bn for the first quarter of 2025. Netflix ended 2024 with 301.6 million subscribers, up by almost 16% compared with the end of 2023. The company’s share price was up by almost 11.5% in early trading on Wednesday to $969.43 on the Nasdaq exchange, valuing the company at about $417bn. Some might look at those numbers and think that Netflix could easily afford to contribute some so-called fair share payments to telco capex budgets, something that many major European operators are demanding from the ‘large traffic generators’, such as Netflix, Meta, Google and more.
Middle Eastern telecom and digital technology giant e& has turned to IBM for its Watsonx.governance enterprise AI and data governance platform in order to “deploy a pioneering, end-to-end, multi-model artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI governance solution,” the companies announced. The deployment will “enhance e&’s AI governance framework to promote compliance, oversight, and ethical practices across its growing AI ecosystem, reinforcing e&’s commitment to establishing robust governance, risk management, and regulatory oversight across its AI usage.” Dena Almansoori, group chief AI and data officer at e&, noted: “As AI continues to transform industries, responsible governance is paramount. At e&, we are committed to leading by example and setting the global benchmark when it comes to establishing robust AI governance practices. By adopting IBM Watsonx.governance, we’re taking a decisive step forward in our AI journey. This collaboration ensures transparency, explainability and efficiency across our AI operations, raising the bar for AI governance in the industry.”
Still with e&... UAE-based international service provider e& Carrier & Wholesale, which operates multiple SmartHub datacentres across the Middle East, is expanding the reach of its internet exchange (IX) services thanks to a new partnership with global IX service provider DE-CIX, which has operations in 60 locations across Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. “This groundbreaking advancement will significantly enhance the digital landscape in the UAE and the wider region,” stated Nabil Baccouche, group chief carrier and wholesale officer at e&. “This strategic collaboration aligns perfectly with our vision of building a dynamic and interconnected digital infrastructure… With low-latency connectivity, SmartHub IX will ensure that information is transmitted and processed with minimal delay, enabling a more agile and efficient digital ecosystem.”
Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile has announced it will “support the commercial deployment of open radio units (RUs) developed by US-based vendors, as part of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s project to advance Open RAN development with funding by the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund.” In December the NTIA awarded a total of just more than $273m to companies engaging in Open RAN radio unit research and development activities and then, earlier this month, it awarded more than $117m in grants to nine recipients to “support projects focused on open radio unit innovation and commercialisation”. Rakuten Mobile noted that it has “already built a nationwide mobile network based on Open RAN standards in Japan” and that it it will use its insight and expertise to “collaborate with RU vendors selected by NTIA’s project, including Battelle Memorial Institute, Microelectronics Technology, Eridan Communications and Airspan Networks. Rakuten Mobile will assist these vendors in the verification and integration processes required for the commercial deployment of their open RUs and support proof-of-concept trials in commercial networks. These trials will utilise Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN-compatible distributed units (DUs) and centralised units (CUs).”
– The staff, TelecomTV
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