Press Release

Telxius, the leading global connectivity provider, is joining the Firmina subsea cable system. Firmina will connect the East Coast of the USA to Las Toninas (Argentina), with additional landings in Praia Grande (Brazil) and Punta del Este (Uruguay). Telxius will subsequently host Firmina in its Santos digital hub in Brazil.

Telxius customers will benefit from three redundant routes between the US and Brazil (Firmina, Brusa, SAm-1) as well as three redundant routes extending to Argentina (Firmina, Tannat, SAm-1). These routes bolster the Telxius network’s resilience, ensuring robust and low-latency connectivity spanning the Americas. Together, these network routes will increase international connectivity and are expected to boost the digital economy, opening new opportunities for businesses.

“We are excited about joining Firmina which demonstrates our commitment to delivering low latency, enhanced diversity and high-capacity networking across the Americas for our customers and partners. In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, we believe in the continuous growth of our international submarine cable network to create major business opportunities for all of us involved. We are also thrilled to announce the expansion of our collaboration with Google and confirm our shared mission to jointly invest in internet infrastructure”, said Mario Martín, CEO at Telxius.

The Telxius network has been designed to connect the main digital data hubs on both sides of the Atlantic with a multiterabit, robust set of next-generation subsea cables fully serving the Americas and Europe while enhancing Telxius traditional routes. The Telxius network spans over 100,000 km of submarine and terrestrial fiber, including eight next-generation subsea systems: Marea, Brusa, Dunant, Tannat, Junior, Mistral, Tikal, and now Firmina. Telxius also has a Tier-1 international IP network (AS 12956) offering direct Internet connectivity to major carriers and ISPs, with a capacity of more than 20 Tbps plus a wide-ranging portfolio of capacity, colocation and security services across the globe.

The submarine cable landscape is evolving rapidly. Keep up to date with all the action at Submarine Networks EMEA 2024

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Converged open-access digital infrastructure company WIOCC Group has launched what it calls “the first truly holistic managed network and infrastructure services company to serve Africa”.

Launched at the ongoing AfricaCom event in Cape Town, the new company, Open Access Technical Services (OATS) enables carriers, operators, hyperscalers, major enterprises and governments to outsource the building, management, operation and support of their digital network and infrastructure in Africa to a company with the experience, expertise and local licenced entities to meet their requirements.

In the field of logistics OATS can provide expert support for CDNs (content delivery network operators) and multinationals wanting to establish or expand their footprint in Africa.

For CDNs, carriers and hyperscalers that require connectivity or fibre pairs, OATS can terminate capacity and manage the infrastructure at the cable landing station (CLS), power feeding equipment (PFE) hub or in a carrier-neutral data centre.

OATS can also support services such as backhaul and licence termination, as well as providing comprehensive, expert field service support, while CDNs, carriers and hyperscalers with terrestrial dark fibre management requirements can take advantage of the dark fibre economics with managed capacity expertise from OATS.

In addition, for providers who own a percentage share of spectrum on fibre, OATS can oversee spectrum management and provide a comprehensive solution that encompasses the design, operation and support of core infrastructure.

OATS can also provide an outsourced managed network and operations centres (NOC) service.

As well as OATS, WIOCC Group is the parent company of WIOCC, described as Africa’s digital backbone, and Open Access Data Centres (OADC), Africa’s fastest-growing data centre company.

Insight 

Huawei and China Unicom, one of China’s largest mobile operators, have recently entered into a partnership to deploy a 5G Advanced on production line at Exquisite Automotive Systems (EA), a Chinese car manufacturer, to help improve their workplace efficiency

EA is a subsidiary of Great Wall Motors, and is responsible for the development of intelligent equipment and the design and integration of automated production lines for Great Wall Motors and other car companies. It has an annual turnover of around CNY 2 billion (£225 million).

At the Great Wall Motors factory 5G advanced equipment was set up on the car roof production line.

Normally, the line requires a wired network to connect and control the terminal equipment, such as the robotic arms, slide units and swivelling tables. Due to their intensive usage, these wires can often get worn down, which results in the interruption of production, with an average outage time of 60 hours per year.

The introduction of a 5G advanced network provides the line with a very low latency and highly reliable network that can combat issues that a traditionally wired production line faces, as the constraints of wires are eliminated.

“Digitalisation is a must for the transformation and upgrade of manufacturing enterprises. 5G-Advanced features ultra-high reliability, low latency, and easy deployment,” said, Yuan Zhanjiang, Deputy General Manager of the EA Industry Intelligence Department in a press conference.

“These features have been verified in EA’s 5G-Advanced industrial Internet lab, and will soon start supporting our commercial production lines.”

“We are working with all industry partners to build a 5G-powered industrial Internet that will help enterprises address pain points during their transformations, and ultimately facilitate upgrades to smart manufacturing,” said Fan Ji’an, Chief Big Data Scientist of China Unicom.

He also noted that more and more 5G advanced applications are implemented in these key scenarios, which is driving the manufacturing system further towards digitalisation. In turn, this creates a more efficient factory allowing for increases in productivity and potential profits. Fan added that together with Huawei China Unicom want to “begin a new chapter in China’s modernisation journey.”

5G advanced is well on the way to be deployed globally, such that 2024 will mark the first year of 5G-Advanced’s commercial use. At the Mobile Broadband Forum held in Dubai last month, 13 global operators (including China Unicom) launched the first wave of 5G-Advanced networks, marking the transition of 5G-Advanced from technical verification to commercial deployment.

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Read more about 5G advanced here:
Ensuring the future of 5G development for its continuous success
Industry mulls strategy to unleash the potential of 5G at Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2023
Why the industry must accelerate the adoption of 5.5G

As the 5G revolution rolls on, coverage specialists like Nextivity are seeing more room to run in the enterprise space and beyond. Maintaining coverage everywhere within an enterprise location is key to using the next generation of automation and connected device technologies. The range of communications tasks that can be called ‘critical’ is only going to grow from here. Nextivity and others are actively preparing for that future. With us today to tell us about Nextivity’s approach and the company’s plans for the future is Stephen Kowal, Chief Commercial Officer. … [visit site to read more]

Tunisian national operator Tunisie Telecom, and mobile transaction platform Telepin have announced the signing of a partnership agreement for the launch of the converged charging system for Tunisie Telecom’s customers.

The main objective of this partnership is to migrate Tunisie Telecom’s charging system, currently distributed among several suppliers, to Telepin’s unified converged charging platform.

This transition, says Telepin, promises to offer a better customer experience by providing a consolidated and more secure solution for mobile and landline top-ups.

Telepin says its platform is designed to meet all of Tunisie Telecom’s charging needs. From the migration of legacy vouchers to the generation of on-demand e-vouchers, the system ensures a smooth transition and an improved user experience for Tunisie Telecom’s large customer base.

In fact Tunisie Telecom has more than six million subscribers, including both companies and individuals, to whom it offers a wide range of services in the field of fixed and mobile telecommunications, data centres, cloud, IoT and managed security. 

Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with a regional presence in the Middle East, the UK, Tanzania, and Tunisia, Telepin serves leading operators in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Telepin says it has the capability to deliver, install, and commission, including the necessary integration with third-party systems such as banks, billers, merchants and agents. Its ties with Tunisie Telecom began in 2007.

NTT DOCOMO Group has announced its “Net-Zero by 2040” plan for achieving Net-Zero carbon emissions across the company’s entire supply chain by 2040. The plan builds on DOCOMO Group’s existing 2030 Carbon Neutrality Declaration, which commits the company to effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its business operations to Net-Zero by 2030 under the slogan “Saving Our Planet With You.”

To achieve its expanded carbon-neutrality target by 2040, DOCOMO Group will work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout its supply chain, which currently accounts for about 80% of the company’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The plan includes reducing Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions from DOCOMO Group’s own fuel and electricity consumption, as well as Scope 3 emissions from the business activities of suppliers and product users in DOCOMO Group’s supply chain.

As part of its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, DOCOMO Group has been actively working to use renewable energy, including non-fossil fuel certificates designated as renewable energy, through measures such as securing off-site power purchase agreements,*1 powering all DOCOMO-owned telecommunications buildings and offices with green electricity within fiscal 2023 (ends March 2024), and introducing virtualized wireless base stations equipped with power-saving devices to reduce network power consumption.

Specific measures under Net-Zero by 2040 include the goal of converting all DOCOMO Shops to green power by fiscal 2030 and prioritizing environmentally friendly products when procuring telecommunications equipment and other items. In addition, DOCOMO Group will collaborate with suppliers to provide companies within its supply chain with CO2MOS^TM, a CO2 emissions visualization tool, analytical consulting services, as well as Green Nexcenter^TM, a service that will support the use of liquid-cooled equipment in ultra-energy-saving data centers.

DOCOMO Group is also contributing to global decarbonization through its Caboneu program for collaborating with customers and partners on various initiatives, including the Caboneu Record^® visualization tool, the Green Program for Employees^TM and other eco-friendly services, and the creation of J-credits with partner companies.

Going forward, DOCOMO Group is committed to contributing to the realization of carbon neutrality in collaboration with its partner companies.

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