Optical & Fixed Networks

Southeast Asian wholesale connectivity provider SEAX has acquired a major stake in ITEL (Interlink Telecom), a Thai fixed network telecommunications provider.

South Africa's national broadband infrastructure company Broadband Infraco (BBI) has reportedly partnered with Huawei to build a national intelligent all-optical backbone network.

MTN Digital infrastructure – a.k.a. Bayobab – says its South Sudan subsidiary, Bayobab Infra Solutions, has been awarded a license from the country’s National Communications Authority to construct, install, and operate fibre networks.

Pakistan has expanded its international connectivity after landing the SEA-ME-WE 6 subsea cable system, adding a major new high-capacity route linking the country to markets between Singapore and France.

Nokia announced on Tuesday it has partnered with Indian neutral telecoms infrastructure provider RailTel to upgrade its DWDM National Long-Distance (NLD) network and metro optical transport networks across India.

The Solomon Islands is set to get a second international subsea cable connection via a project funded by the Australian government to build a subsea cable that will interconnect with Google’s planned Bulikula system.

A move described as “a bold and visionary step” by Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah, CEO of the Digital Chamber of Ghana, has seen the Ghanaian government give the green light to plans to build fibre chambers alongside roads, effectively eliminating the capital cost of digging for telecom operators.

Meta has completed the core build of its 2Africa subsea cable system, marking a major milestone in one of the world’s largest connectivity projects, with further expansions already underway.

Omantel says it has launched a new regional managed optical fibre network (MOFN) in collaboration with Zain Group and Zain Omantel International (ZOI) with optical solutions from Ciena.

Google says it plans to deploy a new trans-Indian Ocean subsea cable system that will connect Oman, the Maldives Islands in South Asia, and Christmas Island, an Australian territory. It will be called Dhivaru after the line that controls the main sail on traditional Maldivian sailing vessels.

Telecom Fiji announced on Saturday it has officially launched the Nakorokula–Tavua Fibre Project, billed as a major upgrade that will improve connectivity for families, businesses, schools, and essential services across the Western Division of Fiji.

DITO Telecommunity and InfiniVAN announced on Friday they have signed a reciprocal fibre-sharing arrangement that they say will enhance network resilience, operational coverage and digital capacity across the Philippines.

Bharti Airtel was given the greenlight to increase its shares in Indus Towers by up to 5%, strengthening its control in India’s largest tower infrastructure provider.

Axian Telecom’s fibre subsidiary, Axian Telecom Fibre, has completed the acquisition of 99.63% stake in Wananchi Group, a fixed broadband provider, as it looks to strengthen its position in high-demand fibre markets across East Africa.

Orange submarine cable subsidiary Orange Marine announced the construction of two new cable ships to boost the resilience of digital infrastructure across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Two submarine cables – one linking the UAE and Kenya and the other linking Tunisia with France – have made news recently, the former thanks to a new launch, the latter because of a successful landing.

Safaricom has officially confirmed it is partnering with Meta subsidiary Edge Network Services to establish the Daraja subsea cable system that will connect Kenya and Oman.

Fibre network operator Cabos de Timor-Leste (CTL) and Telin – the international arm of Telkom Indonesia – signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday to explore ways to collaborate on digital infrastructure and connectivity between Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

Syria has signed an agreement with Barcelona-based Medusa Submarine Cable System for the country’s first international subsea cable landing, state-run Ikhbariya TV reported.

ZTE announced on Friday it has launched a joint initiative with Colombian telco ETB (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá) to jointly deploy all-optical networks across key regions in Colombia, including Bogotá, within the next three years.

The governments of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have held discussions on the extension of Tanzania’s National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), which will, it is hoped, extend through Lake Tanganyika to the DRC province of Kalemie, on the western shore of the lake, by 2027.

Technology giant Nokia has announced that Gulf Bridge International (GBI) a Qatar-headquartered global cloud, connectivity and content enabler, has selected Nokia’s optical networking solution to build a new high-capacity terrestrial network, also designed for subsea backhauling, enhancing connectivity between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Saudi Arabia-based telecoms and digital infrastructure company Etihad Salam said on Tuesday it has entered into a strategic partnership with AFR-IX Telecom to be the primary landing and interconnection hub for the Medusa subsea cable system and extend the system’s reach to the Red Sea.

Two major international subsea cable connectivity announcements have just been made – both of them relevant to developing markets. One, not too surprisingly, comes from the Philippines. However, the other has a starting point in Greece – on the island of Crete.

Medusa, the submarine fibre optic cable system owned by AFR-IX Telecom, an infrastructure and licensed telecommunication operator that delivers internet and data services across Africa, has landed at a cable landing station in Marseille, France.

Nokia and UAE telco du announced on Wednesday that they have successfully completed a trial of Nokia’s AI and GPT-powered automation assistant designed to simplify and accelerate optical network expansions and operations, and improve network efficiencies.

Ciena announced on Monday that Vietnamese telco Viettel has deployed its 800G coherent optics technology to boost the service capacity of its optical backbone network, which will also help Viettel accelerate its 5G rollout.

South African company fibertime, which says its aim is to connect townships to affordable world-class internet, is working with tech giant Nokia on expanding its fibre broadband access footprint to include an additional 400,000 homes located across South Africa’s underserved communities.

Keppel – one of the owners of the Bifrost Cable System – said on Thursday that the subsea cable linking the US to Southeast Asia is now ready for service and will now gear up to carry commercial traffic in the coming weeks.

Philippine fibre network operator InfiniVAN and its parent company, Japanese telecoms services provider IPS, have signed a MoU with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to beef up BCDA’s fibre infrastructure assets, particularly the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI).