Optical & Fixed Networks

Nokia revealed on Wednesday that Indonesian digital infrastructure provider Solusi Sinergi Digital (a.k.a. Surge) has deployed its subsea optical solution in a new subsea fibre network connecting Jakarta and Singapore.

India’s Birla Cable, a fibre optic cable manufacturer, and Nedia Fiber, a US-based optical fibre cable supplier, have formed a strategic alliance to accelerate the delivery of high-performance fibre optic solutions across the Americas.

PLDT’s wireless unit Smart Communications announced on Tuesday that it has conducted a successful lab test of optical transport network disaggregation technology that it hopes to use to make its transport network more open, agile, efficient and flexible.

Nokia announced on Monday that it is supplying its subsea optical solutions for the Medusa Submarine Cable System owned by AFR-IX Telecom that aims to connect North Africa and Europe when it goes live later this year.

Algerian operator Algerie Telecom, which offers a wide range of fixed-line, internet and enterprise solutions and Sparkle, an Italian international service provider, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of a new subsea cable linking Italy and Algeria.

International network services provider RETN announced on Tuesday it has upgraded its Lithuanian fibre network ring connecting Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys to support growing data traffic demand in the Baltic region.

Digital infrastructure provider WIOCC said on Wednesday it has signed a framework agreement with Mozambique’s national telco Tmcel to collaborate on high-capacity connectivity solutions across Mozambique and the Southern African region.

State-owned Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTLC) and Kenya’s ICT Authority (ICTA) have implemented and launched a new terrestrial fibre link connecting Dar-Es-Salaam to Mombasa.

Liberia’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has launched a collaborative initiative with the ECOWAS Commission for Infrastructure, Energy, and Digitalization and the World Bank to deploy a second subsea cable connecting Liberia and four other West African countries.

Telkom Indonesia’s international arm Telin has launched a new cable landing station (CLS) in Kalasey, Minahasa, which will serve as its second landing point for the Bifrost subsea cable system connecting North America and Southeast Asia.

The SJC2 consortium and NEC announced on Friday that the Southeast Asia–Japan 2 (SJC2) subsea cable is now live, officially adding more than 126 Tbps of capacity to the Asia-Pacific region.

Bahrain-headquartered technology group Beyon has announced the signing of an agreement to develop Khaleej North, an 800-kilometre submarine cable system that will further expand the planned Al Khaleej Cable, expected to be in service by Q2 2026, by connecting Bahrain with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.

NEC said on Wednesday it has signed a contract with a consortium led by Singtel to build a new intra-Asian subsea cable system linking Singapore and Japan with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan.

Recently, China Telecom has used 800G/λ and C+L technologies to provide high bandwidth for a distributed cluster with 1024 GPUs in the field-deployed network, achieving distributed training of a 175 billion parameters GPT3 (GPT3-175B) model through 120 km field-deployed G.652 fiber.

Saudi Arabia-based telco stc revealed on Sunday that the 2Africa Pearls cable system has landed in Bahrain, next to Seef District, which it says will reinforce the country as a significant ICT hub in the MENA region.

Indonesian tower companies Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel) and Tower Bersama are reportedly reviving merger discussions that were abandoned nearly a decade ago, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Omantel and UAE-based du and  announced on Tuesday that they have activated the Oman Emirates Gateway (OEG), a 275-km fibre-optic subsea cable system that will boost connectivity between the UAE and Oman.

TurkNet and SOCAR Fiber announced on Thursday they have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to integrate their fibre optic networks along the TANAP natural gas pipeline to expand TurkNet's fibre business and fortify Turkey’s internet backbone.

Telecom Egypt and subsea supplier SubCom announced on Wednesday they have successfully completed two landings for the Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE-6) subsea cable system on each of Egypt’s two coasts.

The governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) have held talks on the potential construction of three new subsea cables, aiming to meet the Pacific Island nation’s growing demand for digital connectivity.

Could the US and West Africa soon enjoy a dedicated subsea link? It’s early days yet, but this week US lawmakers have passed legislation to at least examine the feasibility of building a subsea cable linking the US to Africa.

Zhuang Dan, Executive Director and President of Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), participated in the “AI Innovation and Impact” keynote forum at MWC Shanghai 2025 on June 19.

During MWC Shanghai 2025, the F5.5G All-Optical Industry Summit took place with the theme of "10 Gbps Broadband and All-Optical Premium Transmission for a Win-Win AI Era."

During MWC Shanghai 2025, Bob Chen, President of Huawei's Optical Business Product Line, delivered a keynote speech at the F5.5G All-Optical Industry Summit to share Huawei's continuous innovation in F5.5G all-optical networks from four dimensions.

Global Caribbean Network (GCN), a provider of wholesale capacity to a number of telcos in the Caribbean, has upgraded its existing subsea cable network using the Ekinops360 WDM platform with FlexRate technology from optical transport and network access specialist Ekinops.

Paratus Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Paratus Group, a company that provides ICT network solutions, fibre and satellite connectivity that cross-link Africa and the world, has signed a major deal with PowerTel Communications, the ICT arm of Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) to launch a new high-capacity national fibre network across Zimbabwe.

A consortium of four subsea cable operators, Zain Omantel International (ZOI), PCCW Global, Sparkle, and Telecom Egypt, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the construction of the Asia-Africa-Europe-2 (AAE-2) subsea cable system.

Service provider Telecom Fiji and technology company Google have reportedly signed a strategic agreement to design, build, and maintain a high-capacity terrestrial fibre optic link on the country’s main island, Viti Levu.

Telecoms newcomer Aquatel has signed an agreement with Aruba telco Setar and the Curaçao government to connect Curaçao to the planned CELIA subsea cable that will connect various Caribbean islands to the US.

Zain Omantel International (ZOI), a Middle Eastern regional wholesale business with access to more than 20 international submarine cables in the region, has announced a partnership that will enable it to create a digital telecommunications corridor stretching from the Middle East to Europe through Iraq.

Cirion Technologies, a provider of digital infrastructure and technology in Latin America, says it has expanded its network infrastructure with higher capacity, new metro access zones and new PoPs across the region.

Algeria Telecom has reportedly kicked off an online survey asking Algerians to identify areas that are not yet connected by fibre in preparation for planned FTTH rollouts next year.