Telecom Egypt and Budapest-based telecoms/IT group 4iG have formally established a joint venture to build their proposed express subsea cable between Albania and Egypt.

On Thursday, the two companies signed an agreement on the terms of cooperation for the construction of the cable, which aims to create a high capacity, intercontinental connection linking Africa and Asia (through the Red Sea) to Europe, via Egypt, the Mediterranean, and Albania.

This follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Telecom Egypt and 4iG last October.

The initial configuration of the subsea cable will include a branch to Italy, with the option to extend the cable to Mediterranean destinations such as Libya, Cyprus, and Greece.

Both ends of the cable will be designed with an open point-of-presence concept, which means the Egyptian end will provide access to various subsea cables running southeast via the Red Sea to Asia and Africa, as well as over ten terrestrial trans-Egypt routes connecting the Mediterranean cable segment to other cable extension options in the Red Sea.

On Albania’s end, the system will provide the shortest path to Frankfurt, as well as other international traffic destinations in Eastern and Central Europe and the Balkans, including Sofia, Vienna and Budapest.

As we previously reported, the Albania-Egypt system will leverage open and neutral ecosystem WeConnect as an enabler, ensuring seamless cross-connection with multiple subsea systems and offering customers robust connectivity solutions and access to Egypt’s infrastructure.

4iG Group chairman Gellért Jászai said the agreement will enable the company to accelerate its growth and competitiveness in international markets.

“Our strong market presence in Albania gives us the opportunity to make the additional onshore investments necessary for the success of the project and to open a new data gateway to Europe in cooperation with Telecom Egypt,” he said.

Mohamed Nasr, MD and CEO at Telecom Egypt, said the new cable will add more diversity to its Mediterranean network and cater to the booming growth in international data traffic coming from Asia and Africa to Europe.

Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dr. Amr Talaat, who witnessed the signing, said the most important feature of JV is that it comes within the framework of the Egyptian government’s strategy to target the Eastern Europe region to enhance business continuity and future expansion.

“Egypt is keen to expand its international digital infrastructure, especially given that more than 90% of the international data traffic between the East and the West passes through the country thanks to its distinguished geographical location – with 14 international subsea cables currently in service,” he said is a statement. “Work is underway to establish another five international subsea cables through international alliances.”

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Industry associations representing the operators argue that operators would rather keep the existing legislation than implement the proposed framework 

Industry groups representing European telecoms operators have warned that the European Commission’s proposed Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) could penalise companies and damage the sector. 

The European Telecommunications Network Operators Association (ETNO), the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA), the GSMA, and GigaEurope have released a joint statement outlining their concerns on the draft proposal, which comes ahead of an EU meeting next week when lawmakers will draft the final legislation. 

The GIA was first proposed by the European Commission in February 2023, with the legislation aimed at reducing the costs of deploying gigabit-capable networks and simplify the rollout process. The GIA is part of a wider EU goal of deploying gigabit-capable infrastructure across the EU by 2030, in line with the EU’s Digital Decade programme.  

However, the joint statement from the industry associations has disputed the proposed GIA’s effectiveness, saying that the current negotiations “risk turning it into a measure that penalises telecoms operators, without producing any real benefit in terms of administrative simplification”.  

The statement takes two main issues with the draft text. Firstly, the European Commission’s suggestion of eliminating the ‘tacit approval’ clause, which currently would allow operators to push through with their deployment if local municipalities do not respond to a request for a construction permit within a reasonable timeframe. The clause is controversial, with some EU companies considering it an intrusion on the rights of third parties and private property owners, but the telecoms organisations argue that to remove the clause is to remove a “key measure that would speed up network rollout”. 

Secondly, a proposal added by the European Parliament to impose price caps on calls and messages within the EU, which the group says is unnecessary due to the market’s competitive nature. 

The joint statement argues that the provision of digital networks is “critical for the prosperity of the whole of Europe, providing the backbone of a modern, efficient and sustainable economy for European citizens”. It is clear that most citizens would agree with this sentiment, but this statement is masking the real motivation from the operators: a cheaper and easier way to roll out their networks. 

The end of the statement makes clear that the “EU telecom industry” would rather retain the current laws on the subject than implement the new ones, saying that retaining the regulatory status quo would be “less damaging”. 

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Press Release

Ericsson and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) today announced a long-term co-operation for joint research in the area of AI, Compute and Radio.

As part of this collaboration, two milestone agreements were inked between both the organizations which will allow researchers from both organizations to collaborate towards developing novel AI and distributed compute technology towards 6G research.

A symposium on Radio and Network research was organized at GS Sanyal School of Telecommunications (GSSST) where leaders from Ericsson Research and IIT Kharagpur participated to discuss the developments and advancements for the future of networks and communication.

AI and Compute Research is instrumental to Ericsson’s 6G networks as the compute offload needs to be managed dynamically at edge and the policies would primarily be driven by AI. These themes of research are well aligned with IIT Kharagpur and both organizations view this partnership as a way to push the boundaries of fundamental and applied research in the Radio domain.

Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director of IIT Kharagpur, says: “In the commitment towards Digital India and making India the hub of technological innovation, this collaboration with Ericsson will be effective for next-generation technology significantly. 6G networks integrated with artificial intelligence will enable AI-powered applications to run faster and more efficiently. In the 6G era, IIT Kharagpur aims to contribute to Radio Access Technology and Network, Core Network, RF & Device Technologies, VLSI Design, Neuromorphic Signal Processing, Services and Applications. The institute also looks forward to participate in Telecommunications Standardization Process, Developing Test Beds, Prototype Development and Commercialization along with training and manpower development. This collaborative research partnership in fundamental areas as well as translational research will be transformational for our Future Network Platforms.”

Magnus Frodigh, Head of Ericsson Research, says: “This collaboration strengthens our R&D commitments in India and is pivotal to Radio, Compute and AI research. We are excited to partner with IIT Kharagpur and look forward to collaborative research in fundamental areas as well as translational research for our Future Network Platforms”. Dr Frodigh also presented Ericsson’s vision on 6G which aims to blend the physical and digital worlds enabling us to improve the quality of life by incorporating widespread Sensor-based communications between humans and machines through digital twins.

Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India, says: “Ericsson is well poised to lead 6G innovation and we are making significant R&D investments in India in line with our commitment to the country. Given our 5G and technology leadership, our research initiatives are geared to provide affordable network platforms for ubiquitous connectivity all across the country”.

The Speakers and Panellists of the Conference included Prof. Suvra Sekhar Das (Head, GSSST), Prof. Debarati Sen, Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti, Prof. Soumyajit Dey and many other faculty members from IIT Kharagpur; Dr Magnus Frodigh, Head of Ericsson Research, Dr Mikael Hook, Head of Radio Research and Dr Mikael Prytz , Head of Network Research.

Some of the key initiatives finalized by both the organizations include:

• Compute offload and Resource Optimization at edge compute: The project aims to explore resource optimization, dynamic observability and sustainable distributed and Edge computing technologies.
• RL based Beamforming for JCAS: Safe, Causal, and Verifiable: The project aims to explore causal AI methods for joint communication and sensing (JCAS)

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‘The platform is a result of two year’s research and development  focussing on generative AI 

Jio Platforms, the parent company of Reliance Jio, India’s largest mobile operator, has announced the launch of its new artificial intelligence platform named ‘Jio Brain’. 

The platform, which was announced in a LinkedIn post by Senior Vice President Aayush Bhatnagar, will “integrate Machine Learning capabilities in the telco network or any industry-specific IT environment – without undergoing network / IT transformation.” 

The platform will aid the creation of new 5G services, help transform enterprises, optimise network operation, and allow for innovation in 6G, where machine learning is a key capability, according to Bhatnagar. 

Digging into the attached information sheet, the platform combines the speed, latency and connectivity of 5G with the data processing, analysis, and automation capabilities of machine learning, to allow any operator or enterprise to institutionalise machine learning in their day-to-day operations. 

Users will be able to integrate their own datasets using a simple interface, with the platform supported by over 500 application programming interfaces to allow for customised offerings. 

Current applications already available include ‘enterprise and mobile-ready LLM (large language models)-as-a-Service’, text-to-text translation, and speech-to-text translation services. 

Bhatnagar described the platform as a “significant milestone” for the company’s 5G/6G product line. 

Generative AI is a huge hot topic for the telco industry. Last July, four major global telcos (SK Telecom, e&, Deutsche Telecom, and Singtel) partnered to form a Global Telco AI Alliance, signing a Memorandum of Understanding to co-develop a Telco AI Platform that will serve as a foundation for new AI services such as super apps and digital assistants.  

Earlier still, in 2022, SK Telecom announced its intention to become an AI company to set itself apart from competitors. The company said it would do this in three ways: redefining its core businesses with AI, innovating customer relations through AI, and sharing its AI transformation processes with other companies. 

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Also in the news:
Virgin Media O2 and Tesco Mobile renew joint venture
Japanese government pledges $307m to NTT, Intel, and SK Hynix for chip project
AWS confirms $10bn Mississippi data centre development  

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Vietnam has confirmed plans – approved by the government and announced by the Ministry of Information and Communications – to invest in two to four more international telecommunications cables with a data capacity of 60 Tbps by 2025.

This news was contained in a plan for information and communication infrastructure development for 2021-2030.

The plan’s aim is to ensure high network speeds and bandwidth, wide network availability and that telecommunications infrastructure can adequately serve digital transformation, a digital economy, digital government and national defence.

Inevitably, this means better cable infrastructure than the country has boasted to date. Vietnam’s five existing undersea cables, offering international connectivity with a capacity of some 18.7 Tbps, have had a number of recurring problems, including disruption lasting most of last year. Hence the plan for new cables, suggested in early December 2023.

The plan calls for connections with Vietnam’s major islands and island districts. Priority will be given to areas with existing stations, in order to simplify cable landings. Existing land cables will be maintained and upgraded.

Information and communication infrastructure development targets for 2025 are ambitious. Outlined by local news resource VN Express International, they suggest that all families in Vietnam must be able to gain access to fibre connections, that 90% of users must be able to gain access to fixed internet connections at 200 Mpbs, and that 90% of socio-economic organisations should be able to gain access to internet connections of 1 Gbps.

These, and similarly ambitious mobile connectivity targets, will no doubt be easier to reach if some or all of the cable plans making headlines this week are carried out by 2025.

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Dario Betti, CEO, Mobile Ecosystem Forum

The telecommunications landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by a myriad of factors ranging from privacy and security concerns to the rise of artificial intelligence and the imperative for environmental sustainability. The sector can expect far-reaching implications for how … [visit site to read more]

The Indian government has extended the customs duty exemption given to vessels engaged in laying submarine cables to 30 September. The exemption was originally due to end on 31 March.

Industry body the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) welcomed the extension – not too surprisingly, given the growing reliance on submarine cables by operators to transfer data internationally.

However the telecoms industry did not receive such good news from India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman when she unveiled this week’s interim budget, even though it contained plans to spend nearly US$134 billion on infrastructure and focus on long-term reforms to drive growth and contain the fiscal gap.

The fiscal deficit target for the next fiscal year has been reduced to 5.1% of GDP compared to the revised deficit estimate of 5.8% for the current fiscal year. The budget included no new taxes and increases in spending in areas like education, health and housing.

In addition, the interim budget did not make any changes to taxes and levies on the telecoms sector. However, that industry may be looking forward to a better result in the full budget to be presented after the elections in July.

As India’s Economic Times news service points out, the industry would like quite a lot of changes: a reduction  in regulatory levies like the license fee, deferral of the Universal Service Obligation Fund USOF contribution till the existing funds are exhausted, exemption from basic customs duty (BCD) on telecom equipment, waiving of goods and services tax (GST) on regulatory payments and refund of Input Tax Credit (ITC), among others.

Currently, the Economic Times says, operators pay 8% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as a license fee to the government.

News

A selection of the month’s biggest news stories from the German telecoms market, with guest commentary provided by Rowan Thomson, Senior Conference Producer of Connected Germany, Total Telecom

EU launches Nostradamus – prepares Europe for a quantum world: A Deutsche Telekom-led consortium has been given a mandate by the European Commission to create testing infrastructure for quantum key distribution.

Nokia doubles down in Germany with €360 million investment  The Finnish vendor says the investment will cover chips, software, and hardware as part of a four-year European IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) project.

Deutsche Telekom and BREKO clash over duct access rights: As regulators continue to debate the Gigabit Infrastructure Act, industry association BREKO is clashing over potential changes that they say will lead to overbuild by incumbent operator Deutsche Telekom.

Telefónica increases stake in German unit to 93%: The Spanish operator group upped its stake in its German business by roughly 21% for €1.5 billion following a public tender process.

Vodafone Germany and Autobahn collaborate on 5G rollout: Vodafone will add 150 new 5G sites by the end of 2026, aiming to cover the entire German motorway system by 2028.

“Germany’s telecoms market is likely to see further consolidation and evolution as funding and investment are prioritised for the new year. Shared access to infrastructure, via open access, is likely to remain a key topic this year as well as avoiding overbuild – you can read in more detail on the disagreement between BREKO and Deutsche Telekom over duct access rights in our round up of German news above.

Away from the fibre market, we’re also taking a look at developments in mobile, from Nokia’s increased investment in Germany to the collaboration between Vodafone and the Autobahn to extend the 5G network across Germany’s motorways. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest industry news from Germany and further afield.”

– Rowan Thomson, Senior Conference Producer of Connected Germany, Total Telecom

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