Safaricom to launch fibre-optic network (Kenya)
Kenya’s dominant mobile network operator, Safaricom, has reportedly announced that it plans to roll out its own independent fibre-optic network, in an attempt to strengthen its position in the mobile data market, and reduce its dependence on the declining voice market.
According to reports, Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom has said that this move is a part of their strategic decision to be the regional leader in broadband provision. He added this new direction will offer them greater control of the quality of service offered to their customers. As per sources, the operator is on the lookout for a company to build and maintain the inland network expected to cost US$10.22 million.
As per sources, Safaricom activated a fibre-optic link between Nairobi and Mombasa in February last year, using infrastructure leased from the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) for $ 2.9 million.
MegaFon buys fibre-optic operator Metrocom (Russia)
Russian mobile operator MegaFon has agreed to acquire 100% stake of Metrocom, a St Petersburg-based regional operator in a deal worth US$67 million.
MegaFon will acquire 55% stake of Metrocom from the government and 45% stake from Russian company MCT, which is owned by the son of St Petersburg governor Sergei Matvienk.
The stake in Metrocom was auctioned by the Russian state property fund; competitor telcos Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) and Rostelecom ruled themselves out of the auction, citing that US$67 million is too expensive.
Metrocom owns a 1,500km fibre-optic network and is presently the sole operator in St Petersburg with metro cables in place. The company is employed in providing telephone services, Internet, data transmission, as well as rent a wide range of communication channels.
Etisalat launches new triple-play service (UAE)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is set to be launched by the UAE’s incumbent telecoms operator Etisalat. According to Abdulla Al Ahmad, vice president of Enterprise Sales at Etisalat, the company will be able to provide theoretical download speeds of up to 140Mbps and maximum uplink rates of 50Mbps while Etisalat has been conducting successful LTE trials, designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile networks.
Launch of triple-play service over its fibre-optic infrastructure has also been announced by the telco. Operator’s senior vice-president of marketing, Khalifa Al Shamsi noted that by introducing TV on its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, the second phase of ‘eLife’ has been launched that opens doors for unmatched applications and adds significant value to its customers’ lifestyles, providing them numerous entertainment options that are both customizable as well as convenient.
Telstra’s capacity on Sydney-Melbourne fibre link doubled
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Fibre-optic link between Sydney and Melbourne has been boosted by Australian fixed line incumbent Telstra, doubling the capacity to 40Gbps. Then telco also revealed its plan to perform similar upgrades on other major inter-city routes this year. Ericsson carried out the upgrade work.
Telstra COO Michael Rocca claimed that traffic on the Sydney-Melbourne link was doubling every year.
According to Sam Saba, CEO of Ericsson Australian and New Zealand, the improvements made to the link would enable Telstra to offer customers an improved service with minimal investment and changes to infrastructure.
Sibirtelecom completes DWDM roll out (Siberia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The roll out of Digital Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology in Omsk, Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk has been completed by Svyazinvest-owned regional operator Sibirtelecom.
By investing RUB111 million (USD3.76 million), the operator constructed a 161km of fibre-optic network. The entire work out is aimed at expanding network capacity and bandwidth availability.
The network had a data transmission capacity of 10Gbps and now it has gone up to 40Gbps after the upgrades. Russian vendor T8′s equipment has been used by Sibirtelecom for the network rollout.
PLDT’s fibre-optic network expansion completed (Philippines)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The second phase of fibre- -optic network expansion programme has been completed by Philippine Long Distance Telephone along with the activation of an additional 320 Gbps across six network loops nationwide.
The operating capacity of PLDT’s DFON has been increased to more than 1,000 Gbps after this expansion project at a total cost of about PHP 600 million. PHP 2.6 billion DFON network fortification programme has also been started by PLDT through establishment of loops within the loops to enhance network resiliency.
1,220 km third fibre-optic cable of PLDT running between Lucena and Cebu is expected to be completed by the middle of this year.
Liquid Telecom plans new southern African fibre network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A plan to build an international and national fibre-optic transmission network has been revealed by Liquid Telecom, a majority-owned subsidiary of Zimbabwean cellco Econet Wireless. The company’s aim include building its own links to international submarine fibre-optic cables and a 7,500km domestic fibre networks linking all major cities.
Besides, the Liquid telecom also aims to build fibre networks in Harare and Bulawayo; and proposed metro networks in two other southern African countries. Huawei Technologies of China is building the network infrastructure.
According to Liquid’s CEO Nic Rudnick, most of the traffic on the network would be Econet’s initially, but that third-party traffic could account for the majority in due course.
Gamtel contracts Alca-Lu for fibre connectivity project
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A contract has been signed between Alcatel-Lucent and Gambia’s incumbent PSTN operator Gamtel as per which the former will roll out a terrestrial fibre-optic transmission network under its ‘Cross Gambia Project.’
Fibre links has been extended from Dakar through Kaolack, Karang, Barra, Banjul, Serrekunda, Yundum, Brikama to Seleti in Casamance to terminate on Sonatel’s fibre network under the joint venture project with Senegalese counterpart Sonatel.
An alternative route to the fibre link between Basse in Gambia and Velingara in Senegal will be provided by the new infrastructure. The new infrastructure will also improve serious problem of disruption to bilateral international traffic whenever the older fibre is cut besides increasing Gamtel’s international internet bandwidth.
Viettel to invest in Haiti investment despite earthquake
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Emphasizing its commitment towards the disaster hit Haiti, Vietnam’s largest cellular network operator by subscribers, Viettel has announced to continue the planned investment amidst catastrophic damage due to earthquake. Viettel will invest USD60 million to supplement Teleco’s USD40 million investment in the project.
According to deputy general director of Viettel, Nguyen Manh Quan, earlier this year, the company inked a deal to partner Haitian incumbent fixed line operator Teleco in a project installing a 2,000km terrestrial fibre-optic cable network which would bring broadband internet access to remote parts of the island nation.
Just before the lethal earthquake struck the country, Viettel has been on the verge of completing a deal to acquire a majority stake in Haiti’s cash-strapped PSTN provider in January.
KDDI to reduce stake in J:COM (Japan)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Japan’s second largest telecoms group KDDI Corp is set to buy a reduced stake in the firm from its owner US-based Liberty Global to scale back its aspirations for Japanese cable network operator J:COM. On January 25, a USD4 billion cash deal was signed between KDDI Corp and cable TV operator Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM) from Liberty Global Inc. as per which 38% stake of the latter was acquired by the former.
Through this deal, KDDI hopes to get an access to a potential 3.2 million households for telephony services and simultaneously reduce its reliance of using NTT’s fibre-optic networks.
Soon after that, the deal got entangled and investigation into the legality of the plan was started by the regulators who were looking to slap an USD884 million fine on KDDI. According to KDDI spokeswoman Kayo Sekine at that time, the company will cooperate if the FSA should make a formal request for information and adhere to any FSA guidance. However, no comment was given on the rumored USD884 million fines.
