As private investment pours into infrastructure and fibre this year, Kavit Majithia identifies 10 of the biggest movers and shakers in the sector.

Close but no cigar.

Until this summer, the west of coast of Africa has been severely lagging behind its eastern counterpart in terms of connectivity. With two high-profile subsea cable launches imminent, Kavit Majithia explores how these will transform Africa’s telecoms ecosystem once again.

Having fought, and won, a fierce war for independence in the latter years of the twentieth century, Croatia has spent a good proportion of the last 20 years developing its economic and legislative freedoms, with a fair degree of success.

Last year wasn’t exactly a career high point for dealmakers in the metro markets. But despite several high profile failures, all the signs point to a new wave of consolidation that will redefine the fibre infrastructure sector forever. Richard Irving reports on some unlikely contenders.

The surge in global demand for mobile data services is continuing to radically alter the investment priorities and alliance strategies of some of the industry’s leading telcos. Ronan Shields foresees the revision of network capacity needs in 2012 and beyond.

Guy Matthews explores how network operation centres are evolving in an attempt to keep pace with the demands of rapidly changing networks.

Despite mounting economic gloom, the telecoms sector is set for another flurry of M&A. Richard Irving separates the hunters from the hunted.

The boundary between wholesale and enterprise business is becoming increasingly blurred. Is there still a business case for the wholesale-only carrier or are they a dying breed, asks Priscilla Awde.

The need to maximise profit means carriers are adopting a fresh approach to their back office needs. Guy Matthews investigates what goes on behind the scenes.

Who are the top 20 most influential people in wholesale telecoms this year? We asked you to nominate the executives most likely to prosper in the coming months – and the results are in. Richard Irving reports.

ATLANTIC-ACM takes a look at all the emerging trends across the US wholesale market in 2012 and beyond.