Telekom Austria Group’s domestic subsidiary A1, is claiming to have Austria’s largest 4G LTE network, with services available in all provincial capitals and major urban areas of the country. The announcement comes after an independent audit by Systemics PAB. Telekom Austria launched services in October 2010 and is continuing to upgrade its base stations with fibre connectivity. In Vienna the operator covers 80% of the population. By the end of the year A1 aims to connect 400 base stations via fibre.
Canadian microwave radio vendor DragonWave has recently deployed its wireless backhaul solutions for five operators in Nigeria. The operators, Mobitel, Netcom, MainOne, Spectranet and Monacom, have selected DragonWave’s products to deliver high capacity LTE-ready backhaul networks in order to meet growing demand for broadband solutions from customers. The DragonWave products were selected for their easy installation, configuration and management, according to Mobitel CEO, Johnson Salako.
US provider Spread Networks has deployed 100G technology on its Chicago to New York fibre backbone. The company is now offering 100Gbps of optical bandwidth on its 14.6 millisecond ultra-low latency wavelength services between the two cities. Spread’s platform now supports full-fill capacity of 80 wavelengths at 100Gbps, allowing up to 8Tbps of data transfer per fibre pair. ADVA Optical Networking’s FSP 3000 platform was selected for the deployment.
The government of the Solomon Islands is planning to deploy a submarine cable to improve international connectivity by linking with existing infrastructure in Sydney and Guam. The project will be made possible by a $78 million loan from the Asian Development Bank and will be managed by the Solomon Oceanic Cable Company, co-owned by the islands’ National Provident Fund and Solomon Telekom. The project will also involve the deployment of a domestic link between Auki on Malaita Island and Noro on New Georgia Island. Satellite and microwave technology will be used to reach the Choiseul and Isabel Islands.
Subsea ICT enabler SEACOM will extend its connectivity into Europe through Amsterdam after becoming the latest partner on AMS-IX’s reselling programme. Announced first at Capacity Africa 2012, the partnership gives SEACOM the opportunity to offer African internet companies enhanced availability on the AMS-IX platform. AMS-IX said the deal will herald greater partnerships in peering and IP interconnection between Africa and European networks. The company further expressed its commitment to the African region and confirmed its intentions to establish an internet exchange presence in east Africa to keep regional traffic local. As part of that strategy, AMS-IX is also in discussions with the Kenya Internet Exchange Point for closer cooperation, with future guidelines to build an internet hub in east Africa.
Two Japanese mobile operators have launched LTE services this week to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 5. KDDI and Softbank, which rank second and third in the market behind NTT DoCoMo, are hoping to exploit the launch as a means of immediately gaining market share. Softbank already offers LTE services based on the less popular Advanced eXtended Global Platform standard, but plans to cover all of Japan’s major cities with its new network this year. Meanwhile KDDI intends to cover 96% of the population by April 2013. DoCoMo launched 4G services at the end of 2010 and has over five million subscribers.
Telefónica International Wholesale Services (TIWS), part of Telefónica Global Solutions, has announced an international upgrade partnership to TIWS’ Sam-1 submarine cable network through Infinera’s suite of technologies. The cable, which connects North and South America will connect to the Infinera DTN-X platform, which is capable of delivering 500Gbps across long-haul super channels. According to Telefónica, the platform will enable the company to address growing bandwidth demands across South America.
Caribbean mobile operator Digicel has completed the integration of Haitian mobile operator Voila’s network after acquiring the company from US-based Trilogy International at the end of March for an undisclosed sum. The integration places Digicel firmly at the head of the nation’s mobile market with a combined market share estimated at 80% of subscribers. Government-owned Natcom has a market share of approximately 20% after launching last year.
The UK government has announced how it will allocate a £114 million investment sum to create broadband networks in 10 cities. London will get the largest share with £25 million, Leeds and Bradford will divide £14.4 million, Belfast will receive 13.7 million, Manchester £12 million, Bristol £11.3 million, Cardiff £11 million, Edinburgh £10.7 million, Birmingham £10 million and Newcastle £6 million. The money will be used to build city-wide broadband networks offering homes and businesses speeds of up to 100Mbps. The plan is expected to bring high-speed broadband access to around 230,000 more residential and 55,000 more business premises, as well as high-speed wireless to additional locations. Alongside the government funding, each city is expected to invest some of its own money in the networks. The investment is part of the UK government’s plan to make the UK the best connected country in Europe by 2015. A further sum of £50 million will be award to 10 smaller cities.
Inteliquent, the combined brand of Neutral Tandem and Tinet, has announced the establishment of a Turkish subsidiary and a strategic alliance with local provider Turkcell Superonline. Through the subsidiary and alliance, Inteliquent intends to expand its operations and will soon begin offering services to Turkey and the Middle East via a PoP hosted in a Turkcell Superonline data centre in Istanbul. The agreement with Turkcell Superonline will enable Inteliquent to become an international provider of IP transit and Ethernet network services from the PoP.
Russia’s MegaFon is claiming to be the first mobile operator to launch 4G services in the town of Kostroma in the North West, the tenth region to be connected to company’s 4G network. Initially the network will cover almost the entire Kostromo region, including Gorodische, Severniy, Rabochaya Sloboda, Trudovaya Sloboda, Baidarki, Pervomaiskiy, Oktyabrskiy, Malyshkovo. MegaFon also offers services in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Samara, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Sochi, Vladivostok, Ufa and Kazan and plans to provide 4G coverage to 30% to the Russian population before the end of the year.
