Eurobites: KVH Props Up Colt's Q1

News Analysis Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe 5/1/2015

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Colt hires former Pacnet man; Sky invests in mobile advertising, extends deal with Viacom.

Pan-European service provider Colt Group SA delivered slightly lower revenues but slightly better margins for the first three months of 2015 but the headline numbers hid the tale of Colt's ongoing business evolution. Revenues were down 1.3% year-on-year to €394.6 million (US$444.8 million) while EBITDA improved by 3.1% to €76.4 million ($86.1 million). Those revenues were propped up by the first full quarter of contributions of €40 million ($45 million) from Asia-Pacific data center operator KVH, which Colt acquired late in 2014, while revenues from voice services decreased 35.8% to €95.7 million ($107.8 million), mostly due to Colt's decision to exit the low-margin carrier voice trading market last year: That move is one of the factors helping Colt's earnings to edge upwards. (See Colt Group Reports Q1, Colt-KVH: A Hook-Up Bound to Happen and Eurobites: Colt Cuts Back on Carrier Voice Deals.)

In addition to announcing its results, Colt also unveiled former Pacnet CEO Carl Grivner as executive vice president of Network Services. Pacnet, which has just been acquired by Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS), has been one of the leading innovators in carrier virtualization. One of the other lead SDN and NFV innovators? Colt. So that seems like a smart hire. (See Colt Hires Former Pacnet CEO , Telstra Goes Global With Pacnet's NaaS Offer, Colt Bigs Up the Benefits of Virtual CPE , Colt Evolves Its OSS for SDN, NFV and Colt Targets Network Virtualization in the Data Center and Beyond.)

The advertising industry has entered a brave new era of digital platforms, with mobile advertising in particular set to rocket. Such is the backdrop to the deal just struck by Sky 's advertising arm, Sky Media, with InMobi , which describes itself as "the world's leading mobile advertising platform." InMobi's platform targets specific audiences on mobile, providing a potentially attractive opportunity for brand advertisers. (See InMobi Lands Mobile Advertising Deal With Sky Media.)

Talking of Sky, the pay-TV giant has extended its partnership with broadcaster Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) in the UK and Ireland for a further five years. Viacom's channels include Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1.

Monday is a public holiday in the UK, so Eurobites will return, no doubt shivering and wet, on Tuesday, May 5.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading