According to press release from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of Egypt, the Minister Amr Talaat has issued a decree appointing Mohamed Nasr Eldin Mohamed Ali the Assistant ICT Minister for Global Information Infrastructure (GII) for one year. Nasr Eldin is a respectful verteran in developing and running submarine cable systems, global telecommunication networks and the Internet. He was the Head of Subsea Cable Infrastructure at PCCW Global prior to this appiontment, and headed International Business Unit at Telecom Egypt for years prior to his roles at PCCW Global. He contributed a lot and work extensively for the PEACE cable, the AAE-1 cable and other subsea cables.

Arc, a joint venture launched by du and Batelco, has been appointed by Emergent Telecommunications LL (Emergent) as the lead consultant for the Orient Express submarine cable system. Arc will provide consultancy services related to network configuration, tendering, supply contract negotiation and documentation, and overall project management for the Orient Express cable.

According to Infinera, Asia-Africa-Europe-1 Consortium (AAE-1) has recently completed a significant upgrade with Infinera to boost capacity on its subsea network connecting East Asia to Europe via Egypt. Based on Infinera’s industry-leading fourth-generation Infinite Capacity Engine (ICE4) technology and Instant Bandwidth capability, the Infinera solution enabled AAE-1 to double the capacity on its intercontinental network while reducing total cost of ownership and increasing service agility and network reliability.

Fugro, a Dutch offshore services provider, announced on Monday (May 25) the receipt of US$17.3 million from the sale by Global Marine Group of a 30% stake in Huawei Marine Networks (HMN) to Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd (Hengtong).  

The Commercial Division of the High Court of England and Wales in London on Friday (May 22) ordered Anil Ambani, the former chairman of the bankrupted Reliance Communications, to pay approximately US$717 million to three Chinese banks within 21 days, pursuant to a Facility Agreement and a binding personal guarantee. The court also ruled the court costs of 750,000 pounds in favor of the claimant (Chinese banks), owed by the defendant.

Vodafone, a member of the 2Africa consortium comprising China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, announced in a blog post by Nick Gliddon, Director of Vodafone Carrier Services that Vodafone is naming the 2Africa cable the “System Honouring the Achievements of Rick Perry” (SHARP) to acknowledge the huge role Rick Perry has played in bringing SHARP and many other cable projects to fruition.

Facebook announced on April 21st the acquistion of 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio Platform for Rs43,574 crore (US$ 5.7 billion), bringing the equity value (market capitalization) of Reliance Jio Platform to US$ 57 billion. Following Facebook's investment,  US-based private equity firm Silver Lake acquired 1.15% stake in Reliance Jio Platform for Rs5,655.75 crore (US$ 746.8 million) on May 4; Vista Equity Partners acquired 2.32% stake in Reliance Jio Plaform for Rs11,367 crore (US$ 1.5 billion) on May 8; General Atlantic acquired 1.34% stake in Reliance Jio Platform for Rs 6,598.38 crore (US$ 870 million). These three investments moved the equity value of Reliance Jio Platform up to USD65 billion, with a price-earnings ratio (P/E) of nearly 90 times, and an increase in market capitalization of USD8 billion within an half month.

2Africa consortium comprising China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, Saudi Telecom Company (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC announced on Thursday that they will partner to build 2Africa, which will be the most comprehensive subsea cable to serve the African continent and Middle East region. The parties have appointed Alcatel Submarine Networks (“ASN”) to build the cable in a fully funded project which will greatly enhance connectivity across Africa and the Middle East.

Telecom Italia Sparkle announced on Wednesday it has acquired a new fiber pair on Google's Curie submarine cable system connecting Chile to the US, to enhance its American backbone and boost its Pacific routes. Sparkle is the first international service provider in Italy. Sparkle's IP backbone (Seabone AS6762) is one of Tier 1 and the top ten Internet backbones worldwide.

Used international bandwidth almost doubles in every two years on a global average, there is even higher growth rate for international bandwidth from Asia to Europe. The geographic position of Egypt allows for an efficient crossing from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea for Asia to Europe connectivity. Almost all the existing submarine cables connecting Asia, Africa and Europe are crossing Egypt. SubmarineNetworks.com has an intensive Study on Submarine Cables Crossing Egypt and their Costs. The full Study Report is available upon ordering.

[Suzhou, April 15, 2020] PEACE Cable International Network Co., Ltd and Huawei Marin (HMN) jointly announced that the manufacture and integration of the PEACE system is now in the advanced stages. The system will offer the lowest latency connecting China, Europe and Africa, facilitating fast, high-capacity bandwidth on this new information superhighway.

According to Haaretz.com, Israel will soon have a critical place on Google’s expanding global fiber optic network, being a part of Google's Blue-Raman submarine cable connecting India to Italy through Israel. Google's Blue-Raman cable will create a new Europe-Asia connectitivity route with a combination of submarine and terrestrial cables connecting Asia and Europe across Israel and several Arab countries, bypassing Egypt.

According to FCC public notices, the FCC granted a Special Temporary Authority (STA) on Wednesday April 8,2020, allowing Google to begin commercial operation of limited portions of the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) connecting the United States with Taiwan. The STA for the commercial operation of PLCN US-Taiwan segment is valid for 180 days, expiring on October 5, 2020. The grant of authority by the FCC is followed a petition from the Department of Justice concerning Google LLC’s application to operate the PLCN subsea cable on Wednesday. 

According to The Saigon Times, the Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable system encountered an incident on Friday, April 3,2020. This is the first submarine cable incident in Vietnam in 2020, it has affected Vietnam’s international internet traffic.

SUNeVision Holdings Ltd. (“SUNeVision”), the owner of MEGA Campus and one of the largest data centre providers in Hong Kong, announced a new Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute site on MEGA Campus in Hong Kong. According to Microsoft, the new Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute site is located at Mega-iAdvantage, the #1 Data Centre in Hong Kong, as Misrosoft Azure ExpressRoute location Hong Kong2. Microsoft established its first Azure ExpressRoute location Hong Kong at Equinix HK1.

Orange announced the landing of Google’s transatlantic Dunant cable in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez on March 13, 2020, proceeding to the first and terrestrial stage of the laying of the Dunant cable. Dunant cable system is scheduled to come into service before the end of 2020.