Optical & Fixed Networks

Guinea’s Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy (MPTEN) says it has signed an agreement with Mali to interconnect the two countries’ fibre optic networks, partly in response to recent subsea cable outages affecting the continent.

Congolese Fiber Optic Company (SOCOF SA) has reportedly signed a partnership with the Agency for the Coordination and Monitoring of Collaboration Agreements (APCSC) to deploy optical fibre networks along new roads to be built in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In what is described as a significant move to accelerate the country’s digital transformation, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board of the Philippines has approved a flagship infrastructure project designed to boost broadband connectivity nationwide, particularly in remote areas, and strengthen cybersecurity.

Timor Leste is set to get its first-ever subsea cable connection later this year as work begins to install the Timor Leste South Submarine Cable System (TLSSC) at its landing station in Dili, according to country’s Ministry of Transport and Communication.

Recently, China Broadnet started the large-scale 400G deployment on its national backbone network.

The Pacific island of Tonga is set to get a second subsea cable connection after the governments of Australia and New Zealand agreed to construct a new cable connecting it to the Hawaiki Cable.

A Vietnam News report, published late last week, has suggested that the country’s international fibre optic cable system could see the addition of at least ten new undersea cables by 2030, bringing the number of Vietnam's undersea routes to at least 15.

Plans to build a fibre-optic submarine cable connecting six members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have reportedly been moving forward this month after key meetings in Guinea-Bissau and Guinea.

Peru-based telecoms operator Global Fiber says it has selected Brazilian fibre-optic vendor Padtec and Peruvian telecoms firm Satelital as primary suppliers for a subsea ‘festoon’ network connecting two provincial capital cities in Brazil.

Telecom Fiji says it has formed a strategic alliance with ICT wholesaler and retailer Janty Bondwell to provide fibre connectivity to the company’s operations across Fiji.

Just over a year after series of incidents affected Vietnam’s international communications network, there have been some new issues: three of Vietnam's five undersea internet cables are reported to be down.

Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), in collaboration with China Mobile, recently unveiled the world’s first 800G hollow-core fibre transmission test network in Shenzhen-Dongguan, Guangdong.

Telecom Italia’s international arm Sparkle said on Wednesday it has signed a deal to provide international capacity services to state-owned telco Telecom Namibia via Google’s Equiano subsea cable.

Only days after the news that multinational telecommunications company Digicel Group had announced that its new subsea fibre cable Deep Blue One, serving the Caribbean and the northeast tip of South America, had gone live, Infinera, a supplier of open optical networking solutions and advanced optical semiconductors, has announced that Digicel has deployed Infinera’s GX Series modular platform.

While mobile remains the dominant form of communications across much of sub-Saharan Africa, fibre is continuing to make inroads into many, arguably very tough, markets for fixed communications, including, if recent reports prove correct, South Sudan.

Infrastructure provider Bahrain Network (BNET) announced late last week the launch of a project to transfer all the kingdom's copper internet networks to an ultra-high-speed fibre network.

Digicel Group has announced that its new subsea fibre cable Deep Blue One serving the Caribbean and the northeast tip of South America is now live, which is big news not only for the four countries connected to it, but also potentially for offshore oil and gas rigs along its path.

Telkom Indonesia’s international arm Telin says it has broken ground for a new cable landing station at Pantai Mutiara in Jakarta for the Bifrost Cable System that will run between North America and Southeast Asia.

Telecom Egypt and subsea data system supplier SubCom said on Wednesday that they have successfully completed two cable landing stations in Egypt for the India-Europe-Xpress (IEX) subsea cable system.

Padtec, a Brazilian multinational specialising in high-capacity connections, and Peruvian telecommunications company Satelital have announced a partnership to meet the growing demand for submarine networks in Latin America.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has partnered with Medi Telecom, part of the Orange Group, in Morocco.

Constl, which delivers digital telecom infrastructure solutions within the B2B sector, says it is deploying networking systems, services and software company Ciena’s optical technology to offer high-speed metro area network (MAN) and national long distance (NLD) connectivity services across its pan-India network.

Telkom Indonesia’s international arm Telin announced on Friday it has signed a MoU with Singtel to develop a new subsea cable system connecting Singapore and Indonesia to support the booming data centre market in both countries.

Nokia announced on Tuesday that it has teamed with Global Fiber Peru to help complete deployment of a new subaquatic fibre network to bring multi-gigabit broadband access to 400 communities in the Amazon rainforest.

Google has announced Umoja, which it says is the first-ever fibre optic route to directly connect Africa with Australia. Anchored in Kenya, the Umoja cable route will pass through Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, including the Google Cloud region, before crossing the Indian Ocean to Australia.

Azerbaijan’s state-owned operator Baktelecom is deploying Nokia’s XGS-PON solution to help bring new gigabit services to residential and business customers across the country.

Co-hosted by the Fiber Network Council APAC (FNCA) and Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), China FIBERTalk 2024 was held in China’s Optics Valley on May 17th.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) announced on Tuesday that it has awarded a feasibility study grant to Bangladesh telecoms company CdNet Communications to explore construction of a new subsea cable to improve internet connectivity across the country.

Global cable provider Nexans says it has started production of TAM-1, a new fibre optic submarine cable network owned by Trans Americas Fibre System.

The government of Nigeria has revealed ambitious plans to launch a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the delivery of an additional 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable to complement existing infrastructure and increase connectivity across Nigeria.

BW Digital, a subsidiary of BW Group, a global energy and maritime group, and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), a provider of premium international carrier services, have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the joint development and construction of the Hawaiki Nui 1 submarine cable system.

Operator Ooredoo Oman part of the multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Qatar, has signed an agreement for the landing of the 2Africa cable system in Muscat and Salalah.

UAE telecommunications company du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), has announced a strategic partnership with STL, a leading optical and digital solutions company, for advanced optical fibre cables.