BT has been contracted by services, infrastructures and renewable energy company FCC to deliver a global data network and fixed communications services. The a €50 million deal includes WAN and LAN services, fixed voice services, video conferencing and remote access for more than 12,000 users located in approximately 850 sites.
3 Austria is reportedly close to finalising a deal to acquire Orange Austria for €1.4 billion. A takeover bid was already approved in September by 3 Austria’s parent company Hutchison Whampoa, with the deal expected to be closed in December. Once complete, the acquisition will give 3 an additional 2.3 million customers. For more information click here.
The GBI cable system is close to completion and scheduled to launch at the end of 2011. The 13,000km subsea cable system will link Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman with Iran and Iraq, and onward to Europe and India. A possible expansion to Singapore is being considered for 2012.
UK Chancellor George Osborne has pledged a £100 million fund to help create ten super connected cities across the country, which he claims will have broadband speeds of 80-100Mbps. The UK’s four capitals; London, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh, are guaranteed to be among the 10, with the unusual step taken to decide the remaining six through a competition. The winners are expected to be announced in the next UK budget. For more information click here.
US fibre provider Zayo has announced a 400-route mile expansion of its network through the San Diego metropolitan area. The network will reach from downtown San Diego, North to the Oceanside area and East to Escondido. The company plans to provide dark fibre and bandwidth infrastructure services on the San Diego network.
The Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) has reportedly received three bids for the country’s first 3G licence. The ATRA is presently assessing bids from the three companies which are thought to be Sahar 3G, Toseye Eatemad Mobin and Shezai Tel USA. It is understood that the country’s three existing GSM operators; Roshan, MTN and Etisalat, have been given the opportunity to match the winning bid to also upgrade their licences to include 3G services. For more information click here.
Australian telecoms carrier AAPT has selected Ciena to upgrade its network with carrier Ethernet service delivery capabilities. The move is expected to help position AAPT to support Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), a national wholesale-only, open-access data network presently under construction. For more information click here.
Latin American wireless service provider América Móvil has completed the sale of its operations in Jamaica to telecom operator Digicel. As part of the deal, América Móvil will in turn acquire Digicel’s operations in Honduras and possibly also it’s business in El Salvador.
Emerald Networks has announced plans for a submarine cable project connecting New York and London. It is claimed that the 5,200km network will have a transmission rate of 100Gbps per channel. Emerald has appointed Jefferies & Company to complete a $300 million fundraiser to finance the project.
Communications technology company Windstream has completed the acquisition of business telecoms service company Paetec holding, in a transaction valued at $2.3 billion. The deal was announced on August 1, and is part of Windstream's strategy to shift its focus toward business services.
