Qwest Communications (Q) has released its capital expenditure (CapEx) guidance for 2010. The local and long-distance telephone service provider expects its CapEX to remain at par with the estimated 2009 level of $1.7 billion.      Qwest continues to invest in building necessary infrastructure to boost network capacity and availability. Historically, the company has allocated a major portion of the overall CapEx in deploying additional fiber-to-the-node (“FTTN") capacity to increase the performance of its broadband network. Moving forward, Qwest plans to increase spending on deployment of fiber optic cable to support wireless services.   The company recently introduced a new fiber-based Ethernet backhaul wholesale service for wireless operators. The service (called Qwest Mobile Ethernet Backhaul) leverages Qwest’s FTTN network to extend fiber connections to cellular sites. This will enable wireless operators to upgrade their existing copper-based wireless backhaul networks to faster fiber optic connections, which will expand capacity ...

Qwest Communications (Q) introduced a new fiber-based Ethernet backhaul wholesale service for wireless operators. The service is called Qwest Mobile Ethernet Backhaul, which leverages the company’s fiber-to-the-node (“FTTN") network (currently used for residential broadband service) to extend fiber connections to cellular sites. This will offer the wireless operators a major upgrade from their existing copper-based wireless backhaul networks.   Cellular operators across North America are aggressively investing to replace their copper connections to faster fiber optic connections. Approximately 75% of backhaul connections are on copper in North America, thereby creating a significant bottleneck in supporting increasing data traffic on next-generation wireless networks. Tier-1 carriers such as AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) have started to upgrade their cell sites to fiber as they prepare for 4G wireless service deployments.           Mobile Ethernet Backhaul service is tailor made to fit the requirements of the wireless service ...