London Internet Exchange (LINX) has completed the final phase of a project with Telehouse London Data Centres to double its network capacity to 9.6 Terabits. The project saw upgrades of LINX PoPs at Telehouse North, East and West to allow for expected growth and increased demand in network capacity. For the overall upgrade LINX deployed Ethernet switching platforms from Extreme Networks and Juniper across 10 locations throughout the UK.
Gambia is reportedly set to switch on its link to the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) cable on December 19. Agence Ecofin reports that the connection is expected to improve voice and data connectivity, provide faster internet speeds and lower the cost of national and international voice calls. Lamin Camara, deputy secretary of Gambia’s Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure, is cited by the publication as saying that private companies contributed 51% of a national investment, while the government provided 49%.
UK operator Everything Everywhere (EE) has said it will roll out 4G to 17 new towns and cities in the UK by March of next year. The accelerated roll-out of its 4G network comes ahead of the UK 4G spectrum auction, which is also due to be held in March of next year. If EE is successful, its total UK coverage could span across 35 cities before rival UK operators have even secured frequencies. [read more]
Deutsche Telekom has launched its first pilot of TeraStream, a network based on cloud-enabled IP architecture, in Croatia. TeraStream is designed to transform the way telecoms networks are built and will significantly reduce IT complexity by applying the cloud model to network architecture, according to Deutsche. The field trial is taking place in Zagreb, providing residential users “ultra-fast” broadband services on a network operated by Deutsche subsidiary, Hrvatski Telekom. [read more]
Alcatel-Lucent is to build Bharti Airtel’s network backbone across Africa. The vendor has been selected to supply IP-based networking technology for broadband data and video services and will upgrade Airtel Africa‘s backhaul networks using its IP/MPLS technology. The backbone network will support mobile broadband services to Airtel’s 17 affiliates across Africa, serving 60 million customers, and provides connection to global networks including the UK. [read more]
MTN South Africa has selected Ericsson to provide equipment for its nationwide LTE roll-out. Ericsson will provide base stations and its evolved packet core, user data management, OSS and project management services for the deployment. The launch is the first for MTN Group and follows more than a year of pilot testing. Ericsson said that the LTE network will increase capacity, lower latency and provide subscribers faster web browsing.
Orange Romania has launched commercial LTE services in Bucharest providing services to customers in the central and northern areas of the city and the regions of Prahova Valley, Bran-Moieciu and Poiana Brasov. The network offers download speeds of up to 75Mbps and upload speeds of up to 37.5Mbps. The service is initially only available on USB modems and tablets but Orange expects to serve smartphones soon. Subscribers will be able to connect to Orange Romania’s 3.5Gbps network, which offers download speeds of between 14.4Mbps and 21.1Mbps, in areas where there is no 4G coverage. Orange also said it has now deployed DC-HSPA technology in 331 locations offering download speeds of up to 43.2Mbps.
The UAE-IX internet exchange point in Dubai has attracted its first 10 customers after launching in October. Customers that have signed up to UAE-IX so far include CDN provider Akamai, Austria’s Anexia, CMC Networks of Mauritius, UAE provider du, Kuwait’s Gulfsat Communications Company, Turkey’s Medianova Internet, Packet Clearing House, Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM), India’s Sify Technologies and Kuwait’s Zajil International Telecom Company. [read more]
