Friday Network News: January 31

Sophie Donoghue

January 31, 2014 02:30 AM

Capacity brings you the latest network news. If you have network developments you'd like us to share, please tweet us @capacitymag or email editorial@capacitymedia.com.

		17 international carriers have partnered to announce the construction of a new submarine cable system called Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1). The 15,000km submarine cable will run from south east Asia to Africa and Europe through Egypt, connecting Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand , Oman, AE, Djibouti, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy and France. [read more]
		Kazakhstan's Kcell is making little progress in negotiating for a 4G licence in the country according to the company's CEO. Owned by TeliaSonera in Sweden, Kcell is Kazakhstan's largest mobile operator but state-owned Kazakhtelecom is presently the only holder of a licence in the country. [read more]
		Ooredoo and Telenor have signed official agreements with the government of Myanmar for telecommunications licences in the country. Qatar's Ooredoo and Norway's Telenor won an auction for the licences in June last year, and the licence terms have been finalised with Myanmar's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). [read more]
		French operator Orange has announced it will include roaming charges within its tariffs in key European markets. Orange claims the deal is the first of its kind and will be launched across major European markets including France, Spain, Belgium, Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Luxembourg throughout 2014. [read more]
		Russian operator TTK has partnered with Hibernia Networks to deploy its EtherReach Global-IX service and augment the carrier's connectivity in western Europe. TTK will be able to directly connect to European internet exchanges where it is not present, including PLIX in Warsaw, NIX.CZ in Prague, Espanix in Madrid, MIX in Milan and France IX in Paris, across Hibernia's Ethernet network. [read more]
		US-based ADVA Optical Networking has announced the launch of a suite of services designed to help carriers manage their Ethernet networks. ADVA's Ethernet Services Suite (ESS) comprises a range of services dedicated to the design, deployment, operation and maintenance of Ethernet networks for carriers. [read more]
		Ooredoo, formerly known as Qatar Telecom, has announced that its 4G network has been extended to cover the whole of Qatar with the activation of its 500th LTE site. The company launched its 4G network in April 2013 and rolled out the service in phases, with coverage initially available in Doha, the country's capital. [read more]
		French operators SFR and Bouygues Telecom are close to finalising talks to share their mobile networks. Both respective boards are expected to vote on the agreement at the end of this month. The deal, for which talks began in July last year, is intended to reduce costs for both companies. [read more]
		UK incumbent BT will reportedly invest an additional £50 million into its fibre network roll-out in the country over the next three years. The company is expected to use the investment to deliver super-fast broadband to more than 30 cities, and 40,000 premises in the UK that were not included in its initial roll-out. [read more]
		US-based AT&T has signed an agreement with data centre provider Equinix to speed up the adoption of cloud services for enterprises. Under terms of the agreement, a select number of Equinix data centres will be embedded with AT&T NetBond, which is designed to enable customers to connect their cloud services via their private AT&T VPN networks. [read more]