Hibernia Atlantic has selected Zayo Group subsidiary zColo for co-location and interconnection services. The agreement will allow Hibernia to provide proximity-based hosting solutions as well as bandwidth services to meet additional network requirements. It will also enable both Hibernia and Zayo to extend their solutions to a variety of new clients and partners.
Fibre provider Sidera Networks has enhanced its Transcom route to include a diverse path to its Ashburn, VA, data centre fibre ring. As a result the route, which runs from New York to Washington, will offer additional diversity in comparison to traditional fibre routes along the US East Coast. Sidera claims that the new path will be welcomed by large financial, enterprise and carrier customers, who wish to bypass congestion points between the two cities, on what is known as the I-95 corridor.
Following Mayotte’s connection to the LION2 submarine cable last week, the island nation’s Outremer Telecom, has launched broadband and VoIP services. Islanders are being offered several new bundle deals by the operator. LION2 connects from Kenya to the LION cable on the east coast of Africa with a branch to Mayotte.
Estonian operator Eesti Mobiiltelefon has expanded its LTE network in the capital Tallinn, with several new base stations, and is now offering coverage in additional areas of the country. New coverage areas include Kaberlas, Assakul, Kehras, Kuldalas, Sakus, Todval ja Uksnurmes, Annas Antslas, Rapinas, Alatskivis, Ulenurmel and Reolas ja Torvandis. The expansion means that services are now available to around 35% of the population with nationwide coverage expected to be achieved by 2014.
China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, has announced plans to launch 4G LTE services in Hong Kong on April 25. The service will offer download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 35Mbps, and is ahead of schedule given the previously announced expected launch date of by the fourth quarter of 2012. China Mobile’s Hong Kong LTE network will utilise combined FD and TD LTE technology, and will be the first commercial LTE launch for the company.
BRICS Cable has unveiled plans for an ambitious submarine cable project connecting all of the member countries of the international political BRICS organisation. The 34,000km project will link members Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil to the US, with the governments of each nation giving their “in-principle support”. It will be a two fibre pair system, operating at a 12.8Tbps capacity. The BRICS cable will also interconnect with the WACS cable on the west coast of Africa and the EASSy and SEACOM cables on the continent’s east coast. Its projected ready for service date is the middle to the end of 2014.
Level 3 has more than doubled its global CDN capacity and expanded its CDN service offering to six additional markets. The provider’s CDN capacity has been expanded to 5.6Tbps from 2.15Tbps in late 2010 with CDN services now offered in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Medellin, Colombia; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; as well as Montreal and Toronto, Canada. Level 3 has also said that it will continue to work to grow its deployments in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and North America.
Satellite service provider Intelsat and PCCW Global have agreed to interconnect their MPLS networks. As a result of the agreement the two companies will offer networking solutions and video services to customers in Asia and other regions, leveraging Intelsat’s fleet of more than 50 satellites. Interconnects in London, New York and Los Angeles will also enable Intelsat customers to expand into new regions.
Japanese operator Softbank Mobile is expanding its HSPA+ network and preparing to offer LTE services. Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has been selected to supply and deploy the LTE network and expand Softbank’s HSPA+ network. NSN will provide support services for the LTE deployment including network implementation and system integration. For the HSPA+ network expansion NSN will provide site acquisition. Softbank expects to offer LTE services by Autumn 2012.
T-Mobile Czech Republic is claiming to be the first operator in the country to offer customers HSPA+42 services on its 3G network. Following a trial last year, services will be available initially to residents in Zlin and Mlada Boleslav. Coverage will be extended to other locations later this year. HSPA+42 offers maximum download speeds of 42Mbps with average speeds of 25-30Mbps.
