Optical & Fixed Networks

Brazil became the second South American country, after Argentina, to join Chile's 14,810km trans-Pacific submarine cable project, which will connect South America, Oceania, and Asia.

stc Bahrain, owned by the Saudi Telecom Company, has announced an exclusive offer for fibre customers of internet service at up to six times faster.

Flow Cayman Islands is aiming to extend its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network across Grand Cayman and the majority of the Sister Islands by the end of 2021.

The arrival of Bifrost – a new submarine telecommunications system that will connect Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Guam and the west coast of North America – is getting closer thanks to a new joint build agreement.

Telecom Egypt has selected Juniper Networks to upgrade and deploy a network capacity expansion across its national infrastructure, serving a customer base of 9.8m for fixed-line services, 6.9m for broadband, and 7.3m for mobile.

Brazilian telecommunications company Algar Telecom announced an agreement to purchase the compatriot telecommunications provider Vogel Telecom for up to BRL 600 million (USD114.5 million).

India-headquartered networking product company Tejas Networks has announced that TelOne, one of Zimbabwe’s major operators, has deployed the Tejas 100G/100G+ coherent dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) solution.

Philippines' Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) plans to invest in building a common tower infrastructure to fast-track the rollout of internet services and to expand mobile services to underserved areas of the country.

UPC Broadband Slovakia has expanded the coverage of its gigabit broadband service to a further ten Slovak towns and villages.

Fugro, a geodata specialist, says it has completed the first phase of its marine site characterisation project for Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to support the trans-Pacific Bifrost Cable System.

Cayman Islands ISP Logic Communications has launched a new fixed-wireless home broadband service in eastern districts of Grand Cayman not currently covered by its fibre-optic network.

Telefonica Empresas, the B2B brand of the leading Spanish operator, has been awarded the contract for the final stretch of Chile’s National Fibre Optic (FON) initiative.

Brazil’s Oi is now offering its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service in Sao Paulo.

Panama-based company Trans Ocean Network has announced that it will provide cable company Ocean Networks with landing party services and infrastructure in the Republic of Panama for the Caribbean Express submarine cable system.

Serbia’s Commission for the Protection of Competition has approved an infrastructure sharing agreement between Telekom Srbija (MTS) and Telenor Serbia that will allow the latter to begin offering fixed broadband services.

Croatian operator Hrvatski Telecom has started the implementation of the modern optical infrastructure in the area of ​​the City of Krapina and five municipalities.

Telxius, a leading neutral telecommunications infrastructure operator with an extensive tower and submarine cable portfolio, has announced that it is providing diverse subsea capacity between Brazil and Argentina through a new submarine cable.

UPC Polska, the nationwide operator and provider of fibre-optic internet in Poland has expanded the coverage of its fixed broadband network services in an additional 12 cities, with customers able to reach up to 1 Gbps speed.

Israeli operator Partner Communications decided not to accept any of the bids received from potential investors for a 20% stake in its fibre infrastructure unit.

Seamless viewing, gaming and download experiences for customers in Bahrain could receive a boost after a recent deal between Tata Communications, a digital ecosystem enabler, and Bahrain Internet Exchange (BIX), its exclusive cable landing partner in Bahrain.

Polish operator Orange Polska (OPL) has partnered with pension fund management company APG for the deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) in Poland through a 50-50 joint venture. 

Andean Telecom Partners Perú (ATP Perú) has selected Nokia to support its rollout of neutral host digital infrastructure projects for both fixed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and mobile (small cells) access in Peru.

The deployment of a submarine cable system from Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands has been announced.

We briefly noted earlier this week that Liquid Intelligent Technologies, formerly Liquid Telecoms, had deployed a fibre network in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The company has now supplied more details of the deployment – and it makes some impressive claims for the new network.

United Group has selected Nokia to provide equipment for its next generation fibre networks across its southeastern European markets including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.

Infinera, a supplier of networking solutions, and American Tower, a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multi-tenant communications real estate, have announced the successful completion of the first point-to-multipoint coherent optical transmission in a carrier network environment in Latin America.

Israel’s Bezeq has begun the commercial rollout of its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.

Malawi has unveiled a five-year Digital Economy Strategy aimed at massively boosting access to connectivity by 2026.

Telecom Armenia has begun construction on a new fibre-optic Next Generation Network (NGN) in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

Last week saw Paratus Namibia announce the signing of its first fibre Open Access agreement, onboarding Africa Online as a client.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is making its first investment into Kyrgyzstan in the form of a US$3 million loan to wholesale broadband operator ElCat.

TIM Brasil has entered exclusive talks with IHS Brasil Participacoes over the potential sale of a stake in its fibre network assets unit, FiberCo Solucoes de Infraestrutura (FiberCo).