Friday Network News: November 16
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Friday Network News: November 16

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.



 

Angolan mobile operator Unitel is to deploy what is claimed to be Africa’s first 100Gbps WDM network. The network will use Huawei’s ASON solution and will be able to achieve a capacity of up to 8Tbps. It is being carried out to meet greater bandwidth requirements from services including HSPA+, LTE and FTTX and to increase protection against fibre cuts. Huawei said that the deployment would mark the start of commercial applications of 100Gbps networks on the African continent.



 

 

US fibre provider CenturyLink has completed a 100Gbps upgrade of its nationwide backbone in more than 50 metro locations across the US. The upgrade will enable CenturyLink to deliver its 100Gigabit Ethernet Optical Wavelength Service to enterprise and wholesale businesses in the US and select international cities, following recent 100Gbps deployments in Singapore and London. CenturyLink said it had more 100Gbps deployments in international cities and connectivity to its subsidiary Savvis’ cloud hosting and co-location services, data centres and customer business locations planned for early 2013. The provider is carrying out the deployments to accommodate bandwidth demand driven by cloud computing, mobile traffic, big data and video streaming.




 

 

US carrier Sprint has announced its 4G LTE roll-out is progressing in nine additional US cities within its nationwide 3G footprint. Work has begun in Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Ardmore, Oklahoma; Oakland and Fremont, Michigan City, McAllen and Edinburg, Key West, Florida, Bloomington, Indiana; Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Sprint plans to expand its 4G LTE network to 125 cities from the 32 where it now offers services. The carrier is also engaged in an overhaul of its 3G infrastructure to enable better wireless signal for customers, in-building coverage and fewer dropped/blocked calls.




 

 

Orascom Telecom has selected Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade the mobile network of its subsidiary Mobilink in Pakistan. The five-year agreement will see both vendors design, procure, deploy and maintain network equipment and supporting services and will enable Mobilink to offer 3G services once licences have been issued in the country. The deployment is expected to improve the efficiency of Mobilink’s network and reduce operating costs.




 

 

Tanzanian mobile operator Smile has selected Alcatel-Lucent to expand its 4G LTE network coverage to additional sites in Tanzania and Uganda. The deployment extends upon an agreement signed earlier this year between the two companies for the provision of LTE services in Tanzania to and will make Smile’s LTE service available in Uganda for the first time. The service will be accessible to consumer and business customers via broadband routers in homes, offices and public places.




 

 

South Africa-based Vodacom has signed an agreement with Intelsat to support its cellular backhaul deployment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Vodacom is in the process of implementing its 3G network across the country, and the agreement to utilise Intelsat’s cellular backhaul infrastructure to support wireless services in Tanzania, Mozambique and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Intelsat managing director of Africa sales, Jon Osler, said the deal will significantly help Vodacom advance its presence in Africa.




 

 

Angolan telco consortium, Angola Cables, and Alcatel-Lucent have announced an agreement to expand the availability of high-speed internet access and data services throughout Angola and on to neighbouring countries. To achieve this goal Angola Cables is establishing a terrestrial fibre link with the West African Cable System (WACS) submarine network, which connects west Africa with Europe. The fibre-optic link will use 100Gbps coherent technology from Alcatel-Lucent to support internet services for citizens in Angola and neighbouring countries, with the intention of dramatically increasing internet availability.



 

 

Sidera Networks is providing connectivity between CoreSite's data centres in key US markets. The fibre provider has connected CoreSite facilities to its network in cities including Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington, DC, and Reston, VA. The deployment will support the requirements of CoreSite's financial services, content delivery, web services, media and entertainment and other high bandwidth customers with performance sensitive applications. Sidera will also extend peering on CoreSite's Any 2 peering exchange and be able to provide access to the company's Open Internet Exchange aggregation hub for peering and interconnection opportunities. 




 

 

Syniverse has entered into an agreement to provide its IPX network and diameter signalling service to Hong Kong mobile operator SmarTone. The agreement will allow SmarTone’s participation in Syniverse’s LTE roaming trials, allowing the operator to test LTE roaming functionality and launch commercial services with its partners. SmarTone joins seven Tier 1 mobile operators already connected to the platform to test LTE routing, interoperability and mediation services.




 

 

Dutch operator KPN has agreed to sell its German mobile tower assets for €393 millionas it seeks to keep growing debt under control. The sale of its tower business in Germany is seen as a way of reducing the carrier’s debt burden, and KPN has struck a deal with American Tower Group, which is expected to lead a gain of €100 million. The move follows the sale of KPN’s Dutch mobile towers for €66 million in October.





































































































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