Optical & Fixed Networks

Qatar’s Ooredoo Group announced on Thursday it has signed a partnership deal with du to land Ooredoo’s planned Fibre in the Gulf (FIG) subsea cable system in the UAE.

Kenyan telco Safaricom says it has launched what it claims is Kenya’s first fibre to the room (FTTR) solution for home broadband networks in partnership with Huawei.

The EllaLink submarine cable system and Mauritania have announced the successful landing of a new subsea cable in Nouadhibou, giving the country a second direct, diverse and secure connection to European and international digital hubs.

ZTE announced on Wednesday that Dominican Republic fixed-line telco Wind Telecom has commercially deployed its Smart Cloud Platform (SCP) and intelligent home solutions that it says will deliver a better smart-home experience for residential users.

Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has approved a request to install a subsea cable landing for the TalayLink project, a regional digital infrastructure initiative backed by Google Cloud.

Telecom Namibia and Angola Telecom announced on Thursday they have signed an MoU and commercial terms agreement (CTA) to boost regional and international subsea cable connectivity along Southern Africa’s west coast.

Ooredoo and DE-CIX have connected Doha IX - Qatar’s first commercial Internet Exchange (IX) – to DE-CIX Marseille.

Millicom International Cellular, a leading telecommunications company in Latin America, has announced a long-term commercial agreement with digital infrastructure provider Trans Americas Fibre System (TAFS).

State-owned Bangladesh Submarine Cables (BSCPLC) has warned that internet services will experience slowdowns or disruptions from now until Monday due to repairs being carried out on the SEA-ME-WE-5 subsea cable.

Philippines operator Globe Telecom has joined the Candle Cable System consortium, an approximately 8,000 kilometre submarine cable system connecting Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2028.

According to a number of recent news reports, the government of Equatorial Guinea is considering joining the Medusa subsea cable to improve network stability.

ZTE revealed on Friday that Peruvian ISP MiFibra has commercially deployed its XGS-PON technology to boost its fibre home broadband access speeds and expand its market reach.

Ciena and Indian telco Vodafone Idea announced on Tuesday that Vi is modernizing its optical transport network using Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optical technology running on the 6500 platform.

America Movil’s unit Claro is acquiring a 73% stake in Brazil-based broadband provider Desktop, marking a major move to strengthen its fixed-line presence in the country.

Turkcell announced that it has added a 10 Gbps option for its Superonline fibre broadband service, which it says makes it the first such broadband offer in Turkey.

Digital infrastructure operator BW Digital announced on Friday that it has successfully landed the Hawaiki Tonga subsea cable in Vava’u, giving Tonga extra international capacity as well as needed resilience.

The TAM-1 submarine cable system has reached Colombia, marking a key milestone in its rollout across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Work on the Middle Eastern segment of the 2Africa Pearls subsea cable system has reportedly stopped due to the war between the US, Israel and Iran as Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) says it’s unsafe to continue operations.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar announced on Thursday it has purchased regional ISP Shtorm to boost its presence in the fixed broadband space. No financial details were disclosed.

NEC announced on Thursday it has won a contract from Brazilian telecoms and IT infrastructure provider Eletronet to modernize and extend its fibre backbone with optical solutions from Nokia.

Bahrain-headquartered technology company Beyon Group has been selection by the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) as the winning investor for the Fixed Telecommunications Network Development Project in Kuwait.

Tata Communications announced on Monday it is partnering with RailTel Corporation of India to fortify the latter’s fibre backbone infrastructure to support AI development in the country.

Google has announced an investment of US$500 million in the construction of submarine cables and an international digital exchange port for the Dominican Republic. This will apparently be the company’s eighth digital exchange port in the world and the first in Latin America.

MTN Digital infrastructure – a.k.a. Bayobab – announced on Saturday that its subsidiary Bayobab Zambia has partnered with Vodacom Mozambique to interconnect their fibre networks at the Zambia–Mozambique border.

The Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) has reportedly secured conditional approval from the State Audit Bureau (SAB) to award a KWD19.9 million (US$64.8 million) contract for a project to modernise Kuwait’s fixed-line telecoms infrastructure.

International network services provider RETN says it has launched a new fibre backbone route between Estonia and Latvia as part of its broader expansion plan to diversify connectivity between Northern and Central Europe.

Google Cloud announced on Thursday that it will build three new subsea cables connecting India to the US via South Africa, Singapore and Australia as part of its grand plan to establish an AI hub in India.

Nokia has reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iraqi technology and infrastructure investment group T964 to modernise Iraq’s telecoms and digital infrastructure.

e& Carrier & Wholesale and TNS Global announced on Wednesday that they are partnering to launch a new high-performance connectivity corridor between Kazakhstan and the UAE.

UAE-based telco du said on Thursday it is partnering with Cyprus-based independent subsea infrastructure provider Datawave Networks to land the latter’s Singapore-India-Gulf (SING) subsea cable system in the UAE.

IHS Fiber Brasil announced on Wednesday it is quitting the Brazilian fibre sector after parent firm IHS Towers agreed to sell its 51% stake in fibre company I-Systems back to Brazilian operator TIM SA.

Sparkle revealed on Wednesday it has signed deals with Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and Elettra to build its planned GreenMed subsea cable connecting the Middle East and the Balkans to Italy via the Adriatic Sea.