Friday Network News: August 24
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Friday Network News: August 24

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

Africa INX, an ISP based in South Africa’s Gauteng region, has deployed Israeli vendor Radwin’s 5000 base station solution to deliver high capacity services to businesses. The base station was installed at the Irene Mall and covers the entire R21 office park. The installation is backhauled into the Africa INX fibre node in R21 through which the company provides services including internet and MPLS. The Radwin 5000 point-to-multipoint solution delivers capacity of up to 200Mbps, and incorporates MiMO and OFDM technology.

Solutions provider Syniverse has established two PoPs for its IP packet exchange (IPX) networks in Bangalore and Mumbai, India. The PoPs in India will also enable mobile service providers to connect to 3G, 4G, IP and signalling services. Syniverse claims partnering companies will benefit from cost savings by using the service, particularly because they will now not incur costs of implementing an IPX connection outside of their domestic region. There will also be benefits of regional roaming traffic that is routed locally, minimising delays

Deutsche Telekom is planning to launch a secure email service for private customers and companies throughout Germany on August 31. The De-Mail service allows users to send digital documents securely, confidentially and verifiably, using encrypted transmission channels according to the carrier. Deutsche said that over a million people had already reserved De-Mail addresses and Targobank and Allianz are the first users. Private customers will initially be able to send up to 50 De-Mails per month free of charge until December 31. After which, three De-Mails per month will be free and additional De-Mails will cost 39 euro cents. By 2018, De-Mail is predicted to replace up to 29% of the 17.5 billion letters and 39% of the 5.4 billion faxes sent every year.

China Telecom has agreed to buy the CDMA network it leases from its parent company China Telecom Corp. for an initial consideration of $13.3 billion and expects to close the deal by the end of the year. The acquisition is expected to reduce the carrier’s costs over time as mobile subscriber numbers increase, and will give it direct control over future network investment decisions. Company chairman, Wang Xiaochu, said that the trend of migration in China’s mobile market from 2G to 3G services would make approximately 900 million 2G users nationwide potential 3G customers of China Telecom.

Namibia’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has announced that the country will provide Zimbabwe with additional international submarine capacity through a link via Zambia to the West Africa Cable System (WACS). Local publication the Zimbabwe Mail reports that a delegation from Zimbabwe was in Namibia recently and an agreement was made between Zimbabwe’s TelOne and Telecom Namibia to interconnect the two countries via fibre-optic cable, with the project to be completed by June 2013.

Israeli provider Tamares Telecom has announced that its terrestrial and subsea network, providing connectivity from Israel to European communications hubs, is now operational. The network includes a submarine cable connecting from Israel to Marseille, France, and then terrestrially on to Frankfurt, Germany, and London, UK. Optical networking vendor Xtera’s submarine solution was selected for the deployment in a submarine line terminal equipment configuration, providing 70x100G per fibre pair. The vendor partnered with network integrator IT International Telecom (IT) for the supply and installation of the network’s transmission equipment and cable.

US microwave solutions vendor Aviat Networks has announced a service level agreement to provide Etisalat Nigeria with a suite of managed network services including a Network Operations Centre (NOC). The NOC will be set up by a combined Aviat and Etisalat operations team at Etisalat headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. It will be capable of 24/7 network self-management with Aviat personnel working from a central site, co-located within its data centre. The site will operate 50 hops of Etisalat’s Nigerian enterprise data network, which will comprise of 100 radios using Aviat’s Eclipse Packet Node microwave solution. Aviat will also provide element management systems for network surveillance and spares management programme to replace components. 

América Móvil's Claro has announced its intention to launch 4G LTE services in the Brazilian cities of Campos do Jordao, São Paulo state, and Bzio and Party, Rio de Janeiro state, before April 2013, according to online news site BNamericas. Claro CEO, Carlos Zenteno, is quoted as saying that the operator was ahead of the 4G schedule and is aiming to launch services in some of the FIFA Confederation Cup cities before the tournament begins. The company is using ZTE and Huawei modems for the launch, with Ericsson acting as technology partner in the three cities and the rest of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states, as well as Rio Grande do Sul.

NTT Communications has expanded its backbone capacity between Asia and Oceania to 500Gbps. The increase in capacity is thought to come partly as a result of the Asia-Submarine-cable Express (ASE), route which went live this week. The expansion brings NTT’s capacity between the two continents to almost 10 times the 53Gbps it had available in 2007. NTT said that the increase in capacity further enhances its leadership position in the trans-Pacific Tier 1 IP connectivity market and would cater for increasing data traffic in Asia, which has been boosted by economic expansion and the entry of US content providers.

Canadian service provider Rogers Communications has launched 4G LTE services in Moncton, New Brunswick. The provider is claiming to be the first operator to launch commercial LTE services in the province and has invested $20.3 million in its network there over the past two years. Moncton was specifically chosen as the first side for the launch due to its status as the region’s business hub. Rogers is also continuing to expand its LTE network in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver and is planning service launches in nearly 30 new markets, with more to follow in 2013. The provider intends to cover 60% of the Canadian population with its LTE network by the end of 2012.

The Seychelles East Africa System (SEAS) submarine cable linking Beau Vallon on the main island of Mahé in the Seychelles with Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, has entered commercial service, providing the Seychelles with its first subsea connection. SEAS has substantially increased capacity to the Seychelles, which were previously reliant on satellite connectivity. The estimated €27 million cable has also reduced the cost of providing broadband and internet services to consumers. To coincide with the launch, Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) announced that its local subsidiary had completed a two-year FTTC network project on the archipelago, supported by the 2,000km cable.

Russian carrier Rostelecom is planning to launch 4G LTE services in the North Caucasus district in 2013, according to PrimeTass news agency. The carrier is also reportedly planning to rebrand its various mobile businesses in 22 Russian regions by September 17. Under the plans, the carrier’s regional operations including Uralsvyazinform, Sibirtelecom, Eniseytelecom, and Nizhny Novgorod Cellular Communication will offer mobile services under the Rostelecom brand.

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