Optical & Fixed Networks

Orange submarine cable subsidiary Orange Marine announced the construction of two new cable ships to boost the resilience of digital infrastructure across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Two submarine cables – one linking the UAE and Kenya and the other linking Tunisia with France – have made news recently, the former thanks to a new launch, the latter because of a successful landing.

Safaricom has officially confirmed it is partnering with Meta subsidiary Edge Network Services to establish the Daraja subsea cable system that will connect Kenya and Oman.

Fibre network operator Cabos de Timor-Leste (CTL) and Telin – the international arm of Telkom Indonesia – signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday to explore ways to collaborate on digital infrastructure and connectivity between Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

Syria has signed an agreement with Barcelona-based Medusa Submarine Cable System for the country’s first international subsea cable landing, state-run Ikhbariya TV reported.

ZTE announced on Friday it has launched a joint initiative with Colombian telco ETB (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá) to jointly deploy all-optical networks across key regions in Colombia, including Bogotá, within the next three years.

The governments of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have held discussions on the extension of Tanzania’s National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), which will, it is hoped, extend through Lake Tanganyika to the DRC province of Kalemie, on the western shore of the lake, by 2027.

Technology giant Nokia has announced that Gulf Bridge International (GBI) a Qatar-headquartered global cloud, connectivity and content enabler, has selected Nokia’s optical networking solution to build a new high-capacity terrestrial network, also designed for subsea backhauling, enhancing connectivity between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Saudi Arabia-based telecoms and digital infrastructure company Etihad Salam said on Tuesday it has entered into a strategic partnership with AFR-IX Telecom to be the primary landing and interconnection hub for the Medusa subsea cable system and extend the system’s reach to the Red Sea.

Two major international subsea cable connectivity announcements have just been made – both of them relevant to developing markets. One, not too surprisingly, comes from the Philippines. However, the other has a starting point in Greece – on the island of Crete.

Medusa, the submarine fibre optic cable system owned by AFR-IX Telecom, an infrastructure and licensed telecommunication operator that delivers internet and data services across Africa, has landed at a cable landing station in Marseille, France.

Nokia and UAE telco du announced on Wednesday that they have successfully completed a trial of Nokia’s AI and GPT-powered automation assistant designed to simplify and accelerate optical network expansions and operations, and improve network efficiencies.

Ciena announced on Monday that Vietnamese telco Viettel has deployed its 800G coherent optics technology to boost the service capacity of its optical backbone network, which will also help Viettel accelerate its 5G rollout.

South African company fibertime, which says its aim is to connect townships to affordable world-class internet, is working with tech giant Nokia on expanding its fibre broadband access footprint to include an additional 400,000 homes located across South Africa’s underserved communities.

Keppel – one of the owners of the Bifrost Cable System – said on Thursday that the subsea cable linking the US to Southeast Asia is now ready for service and will now gear up to carry commercial traffic in the coming weeks.

Philippine fibre network operator InfiniVAN and its parent company, Japanese telecoms services provider IPS, have signed a MoU with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to beef up BCDA’s fibre infrastructure assets, particularly the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI).

Telekom Malaysia’s wholesale business arm, TM Global, announced on Thursday it has completed its fifth cable landing station in Morib, Selangor that can support up to three subsea cable systems, including the upcoming SEA-ME-WE 6.

Subsea cable provider Seacom revealed on Thursday it will build a new subsea cable system, Seacom 2.0, that will provide AI-level capacity across the Indian Ocean Basin, Middle East, Mediterranean, and Southern Europe.

Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), a Mexican telecommunications company and a wholly owned subsidiary of telecommunications giant America Movil, with a portfolio that includes fixed line services, broadband internet and submarine cables, says its TMX5 submarine cable has officially launched operations.

Nokia announced on Wednesday that it is partnering with Indian fibre networking services provider Microscan Infocommtech to deploy its optical network solution in Microscan’s DWDM backbone network in Mumbai and Pune to address surging bandwidth demand.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has agreed to fund a feasibility study for a plan to extend AFR-IX Telecom’s Medusa subsea cable along Africa’s western coastline.

Japan’s SoftBank announced on Monday that it has formed a consortium with Meta, IPS, Telekom Malaysia and XLSmart to develop a new subsea cable system connecting Japan and Singapore, with several other stops in Southeast Asia.

Rakuten Symphony has announced a collaboration with Bangladeshi operator Grameenphone to build an Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), making it one of the first pilots of the technology in South Asia.

Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC) made a strong impact at the 26th China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE), held from September 10 to 12, 2025 at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center. Under the theme “Optical Fibre Leads the Way, AI Shapes the Future”, the company presented solutions across six major key application areas: AI Intelligent Computing Hub, Specialized Optical Communications, Intellisense, Industrial Laser, All-Optical Intelligent Vehicle, and Sustainable Lighting. Together, these exhibits demonstrated YOFC’s next-generation optical innovations and the continued expansion of its broad technology portfolio.

The Barat Timur Indonesia (BTI) subsea cable system being developed by Indonesian operator Super Sistem and APTelecom has cleared a key hurdle after the partners secured corridor approval for the system from relevant authorities.

ZTE said on Monday it has formed a strategic partnership with Sacofa – a telecoms infrastructure provider in East Malaysia owned by the Sarawak government – to modernise its fibre infrastructure network.

EXA Infrastructure has announced plans to deploy a new fibre backbone connecting Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary to its network in Germany and Austria, which it claims will be the largest pan-European backbone fibre deployment in Central Europe in the last 25 years.

Nokia has announced that it has been selected by Indian next-generation connectivity solutions provider Vortex Group to modernise its IP edge and transport network across the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat in the west of India, and Goa in the southwest.

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the Costa Rican government-run electricity and telecommunications services provider, has announced that it will boost its current international capacity 23-fold through the integration of the Trans Americas Fiber Systems submarine cable TAM-1.

Djibouti Telecom has announced plans to extend the regional subsea cable, Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1), southward along Africa’s east coast to broaden reach and enhance route diversity.

Telkom Indonesia’s international arm Telin said it has signed an MoU with Malaysian engineering company ITCO Niaga to collaborate on planning and development of the Indonesia Cable Express II (ICE II) subsea cable system that now includes landing stations in eastern Malaysia.