News

The West African Cable System (WACS) and South Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) submarine cables were reportedly damaged by a submarine landslide in the Congo Canyon

According to a report from MyBroadband, both the WACS and SAT-3 cables have experienced breaks off the coast of West Africa.

Reports suggest that the breaks took place on the cable sections situated between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, likely due to a submarine mudslide around the Congo Canyon.

Congo Canyon is a steep submarine valley carved into the seabed around the mouth of the Congo River. The area is well known for cable disruption, with huge aquatic mudslides occurring when the Congo River floods heavily. This was the case in early 2020, when the Congo River saw its worst flooding for half a century, resulting in an underwater avalanche that heavily disrupted both WACS and SAT-3.

Now, it appears that similar activity has once again impacted these cables, with Telkom SA’s wholesale fixed-line division Openserve confirming that both cables have been severed.

The company also noted that service disruption from the event should be low due to the availability of alternative data transport routes.

“The impact on our network is limited to customers on the international private leased circuits (IPLC) services,” explained Openserve in a statement. “The Openserve network remains robust due to our investment in other international cable capacity, hence all Openserve IP Transit services (WebReach) traffic have been automatically re-routed, ensuring our customers stay seamlessly connected.”

The two cables in question are follow a similar route, travelling roughly 14,500km up the west coast of Africa and connecting South Africa to Portugal, with numerous international branches along the way.

SAT-3 is by far the older cable, coming into service in 2002, while WACS was activated in 2012.

The task of repairing the cables has already been allocated to the cable ship Leon Thevenin, but the process is likely to take some time; according to reports, the ship has only recently arrived in Mombasa, Kenya, and hence will travel south, around the Cape of Good Hope, and back up the west coast of Africa to reach its destination.

Want to keep up to date with all the latest submarine cable news? Join the industry in discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA, the world’s largest submarine cable industry event

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News

The two operators say the network sharing deal will help prevent overbuild and accelerate their respective rollouts of 5G

Two of Slovakia’s biggest mobile operators have this week finalised a long-awaited network sharing deal, which will O2 Slovakia and Slovak Telekom share mobile infrastructure across the country.

The duo say the deal will help them to boost service quality for customers and reduce rollout costs, particularly with regards to their expanding 5G networks.

The capital city Bratislava and second-largest city Košice are notably exclude from the arrangement, with both operators maintaining their individual networks in these areas.

“Faster deployment of innovations, better signal quality, saving costs and the environment are just some of the benefits that sharing networks will bring. The improvement of customer experience with operators’ networks will also result, for example, from an increase in the common number of base stations, an increase in network capacity, and at the same time, coverage will improve,” said the operators in a joint statement.

Network sharing will begin gradually over the coming months, with process not expected to be fully complete for two or three years.

Both operators stress that the deal will not reduce market competition, with both operators continuing to compete on mobile services.

“As one of the leaders in covering Slovakia with high-speed connections, we will develop mobile networks even faster than before and bring new technologies to areas where it would have taken longer in the past,” said O2 CEO Igor Tóth.

“At the same time, this agreement will not affect our mutual competition and we will continue to compete for the favour of customers with our unique portfolio of products and services and the quality of customer care,” he added.

Want to keep up to date with all the latest news from the international telecoms sector? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox 

Also in the news:
Comcast talks building a self-healing network at Connected America
1&1 foregoes Telefónica for Vodafone in 5G roaming deal
Is the UK losing the 5G rollout race? 

Press Release

Global 5G leader Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has increased its socioeconomic contribution to Malaysia by producing its state-of-the-art 5G radio equipment in Penang – the company’s first 5G manufacturing facility in Southeast Asia.

Ericsson has been in Malaysia since 1965 and is rolling out the 5G network for Malaysia, which has already been recognised globally for its performance.

The production was inaugurated by Communications and Digital Minister YB Ahmad Fahmi bin Mohamed Fadzil (who was represented by Deputy Minister YB Teo Nie Ching), Penang Caretaker Chief Minister Tuan Chow Kon Yeow, and Swedish Ambassador to Malaysia, His Excellency Dr Joachim Bergstrom.

The 5G radio equipment being produced in Malaysia includes Ericsson’s industry-leading lightweight and energy-efficient Massive MIMO antenna-integrated radios and is produced in Prai in the northern state of Penang, in partnership with Flex, a global diversified manufacturer that operates across 30 countries.

David Hägerbro, Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh says: “Ericsson is a world leader in 5G technology, currently powering 147 live networks across 63 countries, including Malaysia. The production of Ericsson’s global 5G radio equipment in Malaysia is our additional socioeconomic contribution to the country and marks the latest in a broad range of initiatives to bring our global experiences, expertise, and insights to Malaysia in support of the government’s ambition to be a digital leader.”

“Malaysia is an important market for Ericsson and domestic manufacturing in Malaysia will contribute to the local economy through employment and the transfer of technical knowledge to the local workforce in areas such as manufacturing, product engineering and equipment testing”, adds Hägerbro.

The resulting technology leadership has seen Ericsson recently topping the Frost Radar: Global 5G Network Infrastructure Market ranking for the third year in a row. It was also named a Leader in the 2023 Magic Quadrant for 5G Network Infrastructure for Communications Service Providers report by Gartner, also the third year in a row that Ericsson has earned this recognition from the independent research and advisory firm.

In addition to delivering a world-class 5G network, the selection of Malaysia for manufacturing also increases Ericsson’s socio-economic contribution to the country. Malaysia already hosts a Global Maintenance Center in Bukit Jelutong, which is one of the largest in the world, a Regional Distribution Centre at KLIA’s Free Trade Zone. It is also the base for a Regional Competence Hub that hosts 5G expertise and regional support functions, as well as promotes local talent globally.

Hägerbro says that Ericsson will continue to deliver a secure, affordable, world-class 5G network and customer experience for Malaysia.

Malaysia has already become a recognized global leader in 5G connectivity with reports stating that Malaysia has achieved outstanding results in implementing and delivering a great 5G experience for consumers as well as the 5G network delivering excellent speed and reliability, outperforming many industrialized nations.

Want to keep up to date with all the latest news from the international telecoms sector? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox 

Also in the news:
Comcast talks building a self-healing network at Connected America
1&1 foregoes Telefónica for Vodafone in 5G roaming deal
Is the UK losing the 5G rollout race? 

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News 

The telco is the first company to announce domestic production of fibre products for use in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programme 

This week, Nokia has announced that it will partner with manufacturing firm Sanmina Corporation to produce fibre optic network equipment at the latter’s factory in Wisconsin for use in the BEAD program. 

The BEAD programme, launched in November 2021 as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, dedicates more than $42 billion to expand high-speed internet access to everyone in America, with the aim to “get everyone online”. The scheme will fund the planning and building of the infrastructure needed to increase the adoption of high-speed internet. 

The money was allocated in June on a state-by-state basis, with each state receiving a minimum of $100 million and offshore territories a $25 million minimum. Some states, such as Texas and California have secured much more, being allocated $3.3 billion and $1.86 billion, respectively. Nineteen US states are set to receive more than $1 billion. 

States must now each submit a five-year plan to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), outlining how they will use their funding to close the digital divide in their respective regions. 

Naturally, this is a huge opportunity for fibre network equipment makers, but there is a catch: the “Build America, Buy America” Act, which requires public funding to only be spent on American-made products. The NTIA is stringent in their imposition of this, in order to maximise the economic potential of the scheme for the country. 

Thus, for Nokia to capture even a fraction of this BEAD funding, it will require manufacturing capabilities in the US itself, hence the new partnership with Sanmina. 

Products to be manufactured at that the Sanmina plant include an Optical Line Termination (OLT) card for a modular Access Node, a small form factor OLT, OLT optical modules, and an outdoor-hardened Optical Network Terminal (ONT). 

“By continuing to invest in domestic manufacturing, Nokia and Sanmina will be able to help create a sustainable future for the industry, one that drives job growth and ensures the fibre products produced embody the quality and excellence associated with American manufacturing,” added Sanmina CEO Jure Sola. 

“By bringing the manufacturing of our fibre-optic broadband access products to the US, BEAD participants will be able to work with us to bridge the digital divide. We look forward to bringing more Americans online,” said Nokia in a statement. 

Manufacturing the equipment will begin next year, and Nokia claims the project will create 200 new jobs.  

How is the US broadband market evolving? Join the operators in discussion at next year’s Connected America conference live in Dallas, Texas 

Also in the news:
Comcast talks building a self-healing network at Connected America
1&1 foregoes Telefónica for Vodafone in 5G roaming deal
Is the UK losing the 5G rollout race? 

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Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.

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