Optical & Fixed Networks

Japan, the US and Australia will fund the construction of a subsea cable connecting the Pacific archipelago islands of Palau, a move against Chinese influence in the region, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Chilean telecommunications watchdog Subtel announced a search for partners to finance a project to lay subsea fibre optic cables to connect South America to the Asia-Pacific region.

A reminder of one of the problems that undersea connectivity can bring comes from Bangladesh where undersea cable maintenance is under way, bringing some disruption to internet connectivity.

Benin-based ISP Isocel received a loan of €6 million from French public investment bank Bpifrance to expand its fibre optic network.

Infinera and Seaborn Networks have launched new submarine network services on Seaborn’s AMX-1 submarine network segment connecting the U.S. and Brazil.

Philippines operator Globe Telecom made good on a pledge to upgrade its broadband network, stating 40% of targeted customers have been migrated to higher speed networks for free.

Bharti Airtel is planning a massive expansion in its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband service offering, according to a number of Indian press reports.

MTN Zambia has partnered with ZTE to construct a cross-border optical transmission network backbone in Zambia.

Orange is expanding its fibre networks in two of its markets – Poland and Cote d’Ivoire.

Huawei has announced full upgrades to its intelligent IP network solutions to create new drivers for industry digital transformation.

Chile’s Mundo Pacifico is looking to climb up the country’s fibre broadband rankings by becoming the second firm in the world to adopt the HyperNET solution.

Brazil-based Internet service provider Triple Play Participacoes set October 14 for its initial public offering.

Filipino operator PLDT has stated that it will migrate all customers still using its legacy copper wire network onto fibre within the next 18 months.

Croatian operator Hrvatski Telecom kicked off plans in upgrading its HRK19 million ($3 million) fibre-optic network, pledging to connect thousands of premises to 100Mbps connectivity speed.

According to a report last week from Ecofin news agency, Algeria can soon expect reinforcements to its existing compliment of undersea fibre connections.

There's more news on the planned Singapore India Gateway (SING) cable system, for which a new contract has just been announced.

Papua New Guinea is set to gain a greenfield 4G mobile network, as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $25 million investment into a project for its construction in the Pacific country.

Avaroa Cable and Vodafone Cook Islands have signed a multi-year partnership for use of the Manatua Cable.

Algeria is issuing its three mobile operators with additional spectrum holdings in a bid to restore connectivity after extensive network outages.

The MIST cable system is on its way – and Orient Link, which provides construction, sales, operations and maintenance for submarine cables, and NEC Corporation, a leading name in the integration of IT and network technologies, have signed an agreement to build it.

Vogel Telecom, a leading wholesale carrier in Brazil, has deployed the Groove (GX) Series G30 Compact Modular Platform from networking solutions provider Infinera to double capacity on its network.

Indian press reports say that prime minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the new submarine optical fibre cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair, in what appears to have been a virtual ceremony using videoconferencing.

Ukraine’s Ukrtelecom is planning deploy ultrafast broadband reaching 2.6 million people living in rural areas.

NetEngine 8000 series routers help carriers achieve business success in the 5G and cloud era by enabling them to build an intelligent IP network featuring super capacity, intelligent experience, and autonomous driving.

Orange has deployed spectrum capacity with Infinera’s submarine solution on its MainOne submarine cable, a new network built to provide large-scale international capacity to support the development of a digital ecosystem in West Africa.

According to the New Zealand press a new internet cable connecting New Zealand, Chile and Australia may be on the way, but plans to include China seem to have been abandoned.

Millicom, a leading provider of cable and mobile services in Latin America, has selected virtualized cable access and video delivery solution company Harmonic as its strategic partner to build what is described as a high-speed broadband infrastructure of the future.

Liberian incumbent operator Libtelco is looking to push its broadband offering outwards from the country’s capital of Monrovia.

Leaders of the four nations behind the Manatua One Polynesia Cable Project have announced that the cable was accepted last week from turnkey supplier SubCom.

Sri Lanka Telecom is deploying a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network based on Nokia’s fibre technology.

The Chennai-Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI) submarine cable system project has received clearance from India’s National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).

Local press reports indicate that the installation of a new submarine fibre optic cable system from Montserrat to a branching unit between Guadeloupe and Antigua has been successfully completed.