Russia’s Kvant Telecom is upgrading its existing DWDM route between Moscow and Kharkov, Ukraine, to 100Gbps.The service provider selected Ekinops’ 100Gbps solution for the deployment, which will provide a massive increase in capacity on the route. Ekinops’ 360 devices are being deployed in Moscow and Vorgonezh in Russia and at a co-location site in Kharkov. From there the 100Gbps link is extended to Kiev and Lviv in Ukraine and on to Frankfurt, Germany.
Tata Communications is upgrading its TGN-Atlantic subsea cable, linking New York to London, to offer 100Gbps services. Ciena’s 6500 Packet Optical Platform is being used for the deployment, which is designed to deliver additional bandwidth and flexibility to carriers and enterprises in the US and Europe. The deployment will allow for further bandwidth upgrades leading to a significant increase in bandwidth available across the Tata Global Network.
Sri Lanka’s Dialog Broadband Network (DBN) has partnered with Huawei to launch what is claimed to be South Asia’s first TD LTE network. The network is providing coverage in the capital Colombo and is expected to be expanded to other parts of the country soon. DBN chose Huawei’s RAN and EPC equipment for the deployment and is set to provide a commercial VoIP service across the network. This will use a VPN solution to provide wireless access network services for SMEs and home connections, according to Huawei.
Hibernia Networks has announced that it will provide 100 Gigabits of diverse network capacity to NTT Communications to support the carrier’s European expansion and its global IP network. Under the plans, the capacity provider, formerly known as Hibernia Atlantic, will be the preferred supplier for the deployment of multiple terrestrial and subsea crossing routes, designed to provide complete network diversity for NTT. The expansion will support growing demand for NTT's IP networking, consultancy, architecture, security and cloud services for enterprise and service provider customers.
Wholesale telecoms provider Onvoy has expanded its VoIP coverage into New York by adding 121 new rate centres. The additional rate centre will allow Onvoy customers to access 20 million more people. Fritz Hendricks, president of Onvoy, said that the company expects to expand its VoIP footprint aggressively in 2013 and will look to provide nationwide coverage during the second quarter of the year. Onvoy’s solution is 100% IP-based and runs on fibre provider Zayo Group’s national network.
Huawei and Vodafone are claiming to have completed the world’s first 2Tbps WDM field trial. The trial took place over Vodafone’s live backbone network in mid- and southern Germany and demonstrated 2Tbps transmission capabilities of over 3,325km using a super channel based ultra long-haul solution. Huawei said that the test demonstrated data highway capacity 20 times higher than today’s 100Gbps systems and marked an important step for optical transmission advances beyond 100Gbps.
Alcatel-Lucent has announced that it will be carrying out a major upgrade on a 9,600km subsea cable linking Japan to California, US. The route was not named but the details given suggest it is likely to be the Unity Cable System owned by Pacnet, Google, Global Transit, SingTel, KDDI and Bharti Airtel. The first phase of the upgrade will see the capacity of the system increased by 1Tbps with the final phase seeing an ultimate capacity of up to 4Tbps per fibre pair. This is a significant upgrade from the original ultimate capacity of 960Gbps per fibre pair.
Azerbaijan’s national satellite operator Azercosmos is preparing for the launch of the country’s first telecoms satellite Azerspace. The satellite was created by Orbital Sciences Corporation under contract from Azercosmos’ shareholder the Azerbaijan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. France’s Arianespace is carrying out the launch on February 7 in French Guiana, subject to weather conditions. Azerspace carries 36 active C and Ku band transponders. It is designed to provide digital TV, internet access and data transmission services and will cover Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe and Africa, with a mission life of 15 years.
South Sudan is reportedly planning to lay terrestrial fibre-optic cable this year to link its capital, Juba, with east Africa’s submarine systems. Juma Stephen, undersecretary at the country’s Telecommunications and Postal Ministry, told Reuters that the government is looking to reduce South Sudan’s dependence on expensive satellite bandwidth in order to cut high internet costs. All of South Sudan’s ISPs rely on satellite-based V-Sat, Wifi and WiMAX technology to provide services. A feasibility study is now underway to decide whether to connect with subsea cables in Djibouti or Mombasa, Kenya.
ZTE Libya’s deputy CEO, Malik Shaban, has reportedly revealed that the deployment of a nationwide WiMAX network in the country could be finished by August 2013. He told the Libya Herald that work had begun on the second phase of a plan to enhance Libya Telecom and Technology’s (LTT) existing WiMAX network, which has been in place since before the country’s revolution. More than 300 new transmission towers are now being installed at strategic positions across the country. The contract for the expansion was signed before the civil war but the original plans have been extended to include the country’s southern rural areas. The network is expected to have a significant impact with only 4.5% to 5.5% of Libyans able to access the internet. LTT MD, Saad Ksheer, told the publication that it is planning 588 additional WiMAX towers in total and will replace the old towers once these are installed.
