Optical & Fixed Networks

Frogfoot Networks, the open-access fibre provider in Cape Town, South Africa, has acquired the fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) assets of the fibre network operator (FNO) Link Africa Western Cape for an undisclosed sum.

2Africa can now officially boast that it is the longest subsea cable system in the world after the announcement that it has been extended to the Arabian Gulf, Pakistan and India.

Telekom Slovenije has tapped Nokia to supply broadband equipment to allow its FTTH network to offer 10Gb/s, with deployment slated for this year.

Leading Indian operator Bharti Airtel has selected networking products company Tejas Networks to enhance its optical network capacity in key metropolitan markets.

Burkino Faso’s government has detailed its National Strategy for the Development of the Digital Economy, which seeks to boost connectivity in urban areas.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies is delivering affordable high-speed connectivity to communities in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) using Wireless Optical Communication technology (WOC) from Project Taara.

Chinese provider of submarine-network solutions HMN Tech said the first 16-fibre pair repeatered submarine cable system, the Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE), has completed the system commissioning and testing, and is now ready for service.

In yet another example of how the response to Covid-19 has influenced the telecommunications sector in a number of countries, MTN Ghana has announced the launch of a home internet service.

With an eye to the continuing drive to boost services to citizens and businesses, Botswana has floated a tender for the design, supply, installation, commissioning, operation and support of internet and backhaul connectivity in 61 of the country’s villages.

Satellite networking technology, solutions and services company Gilat Satellite Networks has announced that it has received a $12 million service award for recurring revenues from broadband services in Cusco, Peru.

Dr. Amr Talaat, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, has announced plans to provide more than 60 million people in rural areas with high-speed internet under an ambitious drive to unlock new pathways for economic growth.

In an interesting example of cooperation to avoid duplication, Tanzania is planning to use electricity infrastructure to deploy broadband services.

Netcracker Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, extended its contract with Maxis, Malaysia's converged service provider, for its Digital OSS, which provides the underlying digital and automation foundation for Maxis including fibre optic footprint and next-gen IP network.

Indonesian wireless network provider Telkomsel closed another tower sale with Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel), selling 4,000 units for IDR6.2 trillion ($434.8 million) and agreeing on a ten-year leaseback.

Philippines telecommunications giant PLDT is doubling its existing total network capacity from 55 terabits per second to 92 Tbps by the end of 2021. That is almost more than triple from its capacity last year which was only at 30 Tbps.

Indonesia-based mobile telecommunications services operator XL Axiata said that it has intensively built a 4G network in Banten Province in the last year. Within a year, there was the construction of more than 630 4G BTS to remote areas that were previously unreachable.

FiBrasil (FiBrasil Infraestrutura e Fibra Ótica SA), a Brazilian company whose focus is the construction and operation of a neutral fibre network, has announced a major acquisition with the potential to boost its coverage plans.

Airtel Niger has reportedly invested $5.7 million in deploying optical fibre from a major Nigerien city to the country’s border with Nigeria.

Vodafone Ukraine, the second-biggest mobile carrier in the Ukraine market, has announced plans to enter the fixed broadband market.

Ciena, a networking systems, services and software company, says it is working with Djibouti Telecom to increase digitisation in the East Africa region by deploying Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme solution to upgrade one of Djibouti Telecom’s submarine cable systems.

American telecommunications software company Mavenir announced to have been selected by the Romanian telecommunications company Telekom Romania Mobile Communications to deploy a cloud-native IMS (vIMS) platform together with VoLTE and VoWi-Fi microservices.

Serbia Broadband (SBB) said that it would begin free digitalization of the Serbian cities of Kraljevo and Vrsac in September by extending its ‘GIGA’-branded fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network.

Broadband network and digital services offered in Seychelles will soon get a boost from a new cable system that will be leased by Seychelles-based telecommunications provider Intelvision Limited with support from global development institution IFC.

Google has announced plans for yet another subsea cable. This one, called Apricot, will connect Singapore, Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia. The Apricot cable is expected to be ready for service in 2024.

2Africa, not only Africa’s biggest subsea project but, the consortium behind it says, the largest subsea cable project in the world, is in the news again with plans for more branches.

Global infrastructure operator Telxius said that its new Mistral subsea cable is now ready for service. Running up the western coast of South America, the Mistral cable links Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to lend up to PLN 325 million (approximately $83.2 million) to Polish infrastructural telecommunications group Nexera to help finance the rollout of a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) access network.

Argentina's telecommunications regulator Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (Enacom) approved funding totalling ARS 671.6 million (USD 33.5 million) to improve broadband connectivity in the country.

A new subsea and terrestrial system linking Europe, the Middle East and India is on the way – and a specialist investment trust has announced a significant financial input into the project.

Uruguay’s state operator Antel is aiming to invest US$147 million into upgrading its fibre-optic network throughout 2022.

International service provider Sparkle has announced a collaboration with Google, among a number of other companies, to build the Blue and Raman submarine cable systems. Blue will connect Italy, France, Greece and Israel, while Raman will connect Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and India.

Libya's state-owned operator Hatif Libya has signed an agreement to improve its fibre-optic network with US-based company Infinera. Hatif Libya is a subsidiary of the Libyan Telecommunication Holding Company (LPTIC).