Optical & Fixed Networks

Equatorial Guinea’s state-owned telecommunications operator Getesa has signed a collaboration agreement with Huawei to optimise the country’s national telecommunications network.

Underlining the continuing difficulties faced by telecoms companies in extending broadband rollout is news of complaints from a recent forum hosted by the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria in Lagos.

Latin American digital infrastructure provider Cirion Technologies confirmed that it has restored 62% of the services knocked out by the two recent earthquakes in Venezuela.

ZTE revealed on Monday it has signed an MoU with Indonesian telecoms infrastructure and network provider MoraRepublic to collaborate on developing and expanding fixed wireless access (FWA) and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services for residential and enterprise customers.

Paratus Zimbabwe and Powertel Communications, the ICT arm of Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), announced on Friday that the first phase of their national fibre backbone project is now live and carrying traffic.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Friday that international connectivity services on the SEA-ME-WE 5 subsea cable system have been fully restored following a fault on the cable a day earlier.

The Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Digital Affairs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Genew Technologies for a major fibre optic initiative covering the Congo River.

Indonesian telecoms infrastructure and network provider MoraRepublic and Chinese subsea cable firm HMN Tech announced on Thursday that they have completed factory acceptance testing of wet plant gear for the Moratelindo International Cable System-3 (MIC-3).

Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison announced on Thursday it has successfully spun off its fibre business, which has relaunched as Infra Fiber Teknologi (IFT), an independent fibre infrastructure platform backed by Indosat and Arsari Group.

Yet another India-Southeast Asia undersea cable is in the news after an announcement that a consortium plans to build a new undersea cable linking India with Malaysia and Singapore.

Communications technology giant Tata Communications has announced strategic investments in subsea cable infrastructure to strengthen its connectivity solutions between the emerging AI hubs of Mumbai and Chennai in India and Singapore.

The approval, early last week, of the installation of Google’s underwater cable linking Chile to Asia-Pacific means the Humboldt Cable, as it is known, is on track to be installed in the last quarter of 2026 and become operational in 2028.

China Mobile, the GSMA, Huawei and other partners have officially launched “OpenAN”, an open-source project that aims to enable collaboration and interoperability between O&M agents in autonomous networks, allowing them to evolve to Level 4 autonomy.

The government of Zanzibar has announced a public-private partnership agreement with Yas Fibre, the broadband division of operator Yas Tanzania, to expand broadband infrastructure in the semi-autonomous archipelago off the coast of East Africa in Tanzania.

ICT provider Seacom says it has launched a new high-capacity terrestrial network route between Nairobi and Kampala, reinforcing one of East Africa’s most critical digital corridors.

Nokia announced on Wednesday that it has been selected by Thai telecoms and digital infrastructure provider Symphony Communication to upgrade the optical equipment of the Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) subsea cable system.

Telecom Namibia has signed its second open-access fibre deal in the past week – this one with fibre infrastructure provider Lightstruck – as part of its ongoing plan to accelerate its fibre broadband business and replace its fixed copper network.

Telecom Namibia says it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with local open-access fibre network provider Demshi Investment Holdings to accelerate its fibre service rollout and replace its copper network with fibre in areas prone to cable theft and vandalism.

Orange announced on Wednesday that the France-to-Tunisia route of the Medusa Submarine Cable System – dubbed “ViaTunisia” – is now operational, establishing a new digital link between Europe and North Africa.

Chinese subsea cable firm HMN Tech has announced that the South East Asia Hainan–Hong Kong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X) connecting China to Southeast Asia is now ready for service.

FLAG has launched a new subsea route between Chennai and Singapore, adding capacity and route diversity along one of Asia’s busiest connectivity corridors.

Global operator Sparkle announced on Thursday it has signed three new capacity agreements to expand the reach of European research and education network operator GÉANT across Europe, Africa and MENA.

Bahrain-headquartered global technology group Beyon has announced the signing of a public private partnership (PPP) commitment agreement with the Ministry of Communications in Kuwait and the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP).

Global operator Sparkle and Bolivian state-owned telco Entel announced on Tuesday they have signed an MoU to create a new coast-to-coast terrestrial fibre route across Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme solution, powered by WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optical technology, has been successful activated across the Batam–Jakarta segment of the Matrix Cable System (MCS), a submarine telecommunications cable linking Indonesia and Singapore.

Philippine telco PLDT announced on Tuesday that three indigenous cultural communities (ICC) representing the Tagbanua in Palawan province have given the green light to a subsea cable project designed to boost the telco's network resiliency for the island.

NEC announced on Friday it has completed construction of the East Micronesia Cable System (EMCS) that will bring extra international capacity to the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati and Nauru.

Mexican carrier C3ntro Telecom and Ecuadorian telco Telconet announced on Thursday they are partnering to build a subsea and terrestrial fibre network called CSN-2 to connect data centre hubs in Mexico and Florida.

Global operator Sparkle say it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NaiTel, the telecom arm of the digital ecosystem known as Aqaba Digital Hub, and international consultancy and advisory firm iLevant, to extend the GreenMed submarine cable system through Jordan.

Venezuela’s largest private ISP Inter Venezuela is using Harmonic’s virtualised core and fibre solutions to power its nationwide XGS-PON-based mobile backhaul service.

Orange Group announced on Tuesday that it is part of a consortium of telcos and carriers that have signed an MoU to build a new subsea cable linking the UK and Europe to South Africa.

Telkom Indonesia’s international arm Telin announced on Friday it has officially launched the Pukpuk Submarine Cable System (Puk-Puk 1) that provides a direct subsea link between Indonesia’s Papua province and Papua New Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea has officially signed a construction and maintenance agreement (C&MA) to join AFR-IX Telecom’s Medusa Africa cable project, which would give the country its second international subsea link.