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.

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.

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.

March 09, 2020 Eastern Daylight Time-Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (“Zayo”) (NYSE: ZAYO), which provides mission-critical bandwidth to the world’s most impactful companies, today announced the completion of its acquisition by affiliates of Digital Colony Partners (“Digital Colony”) and the EQT Infrastructure IV fund (“EQT” or “EQT Infrastructure”). The close marks the consummation of the $14.3 billion transaction, which represents the largest syndicated private equity investment, the fifth largest Media & Communications LBO and the second largest LBO overall since 2008.

According to telecompaper news, Telefonica is planning to split its submarine cables business from the rest of its infrastructure subsidiary Telxius, according to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg and subsequently reported by El Economista. Telxius operates an 87,000 km international network of high capacity fiber optic subsea cables, including the latest MAREA and BRUSA cables.

HC2 Holdings, Inc. (HC2) announced on Thursday to sell 100% of its subsidiary Global Marine Group (GMG) to an investment affiliate of J.F. Lehman & Company, LLC (JFLCO). The sale includes GMG’s operating subsidiary Global Marine Systems Limited (GMSL), along with several joint ventures, and excludes the previously sale of GMG’s 49% joint venture Huawei Marine Networks Co., Limited (HMN). The total base consideration for 100% of GMG (excluding HMN) is approximately $250 million, and the total enterprise value of GMG is approximately $390 million.

According to the French National Research Institue (IRD), scientists have for the first time shown that it is possible to detect the propagation of seismic waves on the seafloor using submarine telecommunications optical fiber cables. According to their research, this existing infrastructure could be used to detect earthquakes, as well as swell and underwater noise. The existing submarine cables will offer potential as billions of seismic sensors.

Ciena, Internet2, and Juniper Networks confirmed last successfully passing live traffic over a 1,367-mile (2200km) circuit using a single 400 gigabit Ethernet link between Chicago and Denver, the first such occurrence for an advanced research and education (R&E) network. The live traffic ran cleanly during a trial between StarLight in Chicago and SCinet at the SC Conference in Denver this week on the 400 gigabit Ethernet link connecting two Juniper PTX 10003 core routers. 

AT&T announced last week the activation the first 400G optical connection between Dallas and Atlanta. This 400G  optical connection is not a trial, it is carrying live internet traffic across AT&T's network for their customers. AT&T believes the 400G optical connection is a first in the industry, which offers a significant upgrade to their production network, built on flexible, low-cost white box hardware. The 400G Dallas/Atlanta facility was deployed on an SDN-enabled Ultra Long Haul (ULH) system from Ciena, with 400G pluggable transceivers from InnoLight and white box was supplied by UfiSpace.

Orange announced at AfricaCom the construction of a new international backbone network in West Africa. This infrastructure will be built around a terrestrial fibre optic network coupled with submarine cables and will benefit from centralized supervision. This multi-regional West African network will connect to the rest of the world through various submarine cables and will link up all the main capital cities in the region: Dakar, Bamako, Abidjan, Accra, Lagos…

Liquid Telecom announced on Wednesday the launch of the fastest direct land-based fibre link connecting East to West Africa. This breakthrough coast-to-coast digital corridor follows the completion of Liquid Telecom’s new high-capacity fibre link running 2,600-kilometre (km) across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Liquid Telecom continues expanding its pan-African terrestrial fibre network rapidly.

In a parntership with Ciena, Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier newly launched Encrypted Lambda service. The Encrypted Lambda service encrypts data on hardware located at the client’s site and protects it over Layer 1, the physical layer, while it is transmitted. This sets it apart from conventional solutions by allowing for larger data volumes with higher performance, lower costs and faster speeds. 

Digital Realty and Interxion announced on Tuesday they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine their businesses to create a leading global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions.  Under the terms of the agreement, Interxion shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7067 Digital Realty shares per Interxion share.  The transaction values Interxion at approximately $93.48 per ordinary share or approximately $8.4 billion of total enterprise value, including assumed net debt.

At the Submarine Networks World 2019 event, there was a new brand from Africa: Botswana Fiber Networks (BoFiNet). Never aware of BoFiNet’s involvement in any submarine cable project, I was quite curiously and had an interview with Mr. Keabetswe Segole, Commercial Executive at BoFiNet. Then I got to understand BoFiNet has invested in WACS and EASSY subsea cables and is the operator which connects Botswana to global submarine networks. BoFiNet has co-built with Paratus the fiber network from WACS cable landing station in Swakopmund, Namibia to Botswana. And BoFiNet is co-building with Broadband Infraco the terrestrial fiber cable connecting Botswana and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Zayo Group announced on Wednesday that it has signed a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Digital Colony Partners (“Digital Colony”) and the EQT Infrastructure IV fund (“EQT” or “EQT Infrastructure”). The transaction would result in Zayo transitioning from a public company to a private company. Under the new ownership, the Zayo team would continue to execute the Company’s strategy and remain headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. The transaction valued at $14.3 billion, including the assumption of $5.9 billion of Zayo’s net debt obligations.

IX Reach announced recently its partnership with Djibouti Data Center for its networkexpansion into East Africa. IX Reach is the leading provider of SDN cloud connectivity, remote peering and Ethernet services to more than 170 global locations. Djibouti Data Center is the first and only Tier 3 carrier neutral data center in east Africa with direct access to all major international and regional cable systems connecting Africa to Europe, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets.