Optical & Fixed Networks

The 2Africa subsea cable consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, has announced the first landing of the 2Africa cable – in Genoa, Italy.

Google’s Equiano subsea cable system will connect Nigeria this month (April) a move that is expected to boost broadband speeds for the country and its neighbours fivefold.

Philippines-based Alliance Towers revealed it will cut back on its targeted 500 tower build-out plan down to 200 this year due to the pandemic.

China's ZTE Corporation has been ranked first for the shipments of Passive Optical Network (PON) Optical Network Terminal (ONT) devices in the year 2021, said a report.

The Philippines-based operator PLDT has reportedly selected two bidders for half of its towers valued at around US$1.5 billion, a move to cut its debt pile.

Iliad Group has closed its acquisition of cable operator UPC Poland from Liberty Global for a total of PLN7 billion (US$1.6 billion).

Zain Global Connect (ZGC), its wholly-owned subsidiary of Zain Global, has announced that it’s investing in the development of a submarine cable that will connect the Middle East with Europe through the J2M (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Marseille, France).

Togo is aiming to fiberise the country’s network of electrical power lines, according to the Minister of the Digital Economy and Digital Transformation Cina Lawson.

Supported by the growing fixed broadband service adoption, particularly in the emerging markets of the region, fixed communications service revenue in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is set to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.7% to reach USD 406.2bn in 2026.

London Internet Exchange (LINX), one of the world’s largest internet exchange points (IXPs) and Saudi Arabian operator STC have announced the expansion of interconnection services to new internet exchange points in Riyadh and Dammam.

The high-speed and low-latency PEACE cable system, designed to connect Asia, Africa and Europe, is back in the news.

EASSy, the 10,000-kilometre submarine cable system traversing Africa’s east and south coasts, is leveraging Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme to increase capacity and performance in sub-Saharan Africa.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has acquired a fibre pair on the Equiano subsea cable, allowing the firm to transport traffic up to 12 Terabits.

Telecom Egypt has penned an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to secure a loan of €150 million (US$164m) to expand its broadband network, the largest loan from the bank for a mobile network upgrade in Africa.

The Paratus Group, a full-service network spanning the African continent and connecting customers internationally, has announced its expansion into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), hard on the heels of a government tender win.

Samsung has reportedly made a pledge to sign up for a government scheme to manufacture telecom gear in India.

The Indian government is reportedly going ahead this month with the planned merger of government-owned broadband infrastructure provider Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd (BBNL) with the loss-making state-run operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

For indoor DAS coverage, RF-over-fibre offers an excellent solution, due to abundant fibre resource in modern buildings.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed over 35 million Nigerians have not taken up telecommunications services, pointing the blame to lacklustre infrastructure in the country.

The Chilean Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications (MTT) has confirmed that it has completed the deployment of its 247 kilometres long Southern Fibre Optic (Fibra Optica Austral, FOA) rollout, delivering connectivity to more than 536,000 users in 15 districts of the southern zone of Chile.

Global internet backbone provider Arelion has announced two deals in the Latin American market, where it has expanded its network in Mexico with help from data centre operator KIO Networks and also partnered with Gold Data, a leading Latin American network provider, to expand its reach in both Mexico and other parts of Latin America.

Safaricom, the newest telecom operator in Ethiopia, has signed a five-year lease agreement with state-owned power utility Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) to share dark fibre-optic infrastructure in the Horn of African nation, the first infrastructure deal with Ethiopia.

Colt Technology Services, a provider of network and voice connectivity to businesses in Europe, Asia and the US, has announced that it is enhancing the reach of its Polish metropolitan area networks (MANs) in six cities across Poland: Katowice, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk and Poznan.

Philippines-based operator PLDT announced it has received offers from six foreign companies to buy up half its towers for around US$1 billion, as the firm pushes on with plans to cut debt and invest in its broadband and mobile internet business.

EllaLink, the high-capacity and low latency fibre-optic submarine cable directly connecting Latin America and Europe, which recently announced a partnership with internet operator Group IP Telecom, has announced another strategic partnership – this time with internet exchange (IX) operator DE-CIX.

Malaysia’s largest operators Celcom Axiata, Digi Telecommunications, Maxis and U Mobile, hailed their collective efforts to achieve hit 96.9% coverage of 4G in the country, exceeding a government target.

The wait for reliable connectivity is not going to be over for Tonga for some while. Recent reports suggest that the cable connecting the Tongan islands, which was ripped apart by January's devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami, could take a year to fix.

An executive revealed Cisco is replacing Chinese made equipment in Indian operator infrastructure while exploring the option of opening manufacturing plants in India.

Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, has announced plans, which are now apparently underway, to connect schools around the country to the internet.