According to recent statistics, over 4 billion people still lack internet access, or at best, a sufficiently reliable connection.

Of those who do, a large proportion still experience limited capacity, which means they suffer restricted usage. Unsurprisingly, in most cases these individuals are concentrated in developing areas of the world.

Post 2015 we left behind the era of submarine cables that took off in mid-1990’s, stumbled in early 2000’s and recovered cautiously post 2010 and witnessed an unprecedented surge post 2015, flagging off a golden era. Over 2010-2015, it was observed time and again that lifecycle management of large consortia cable systems were really challenging. Hence post 2015, the size of consortiums reduced significantly and settled for 3-6 members in most cases, except for the Asia-Europe corridor. Along with it, number of countries connected also reduced to 2-4, albeit with few exceptions. This was enabled by lower cost of submarine cable construction, that dropped to $25,000 to $35,000 per kilometer. One of the main reasons for shrinking size of consortiums was overzealous preference for fiber pair(s) ownership instead of tranche of capacity proportional to investment, for greater independence and flexibility and deploy new optical transmission technology to multiplex more wavelengths per fiber pair and pack greater capacity in each wavelength. This led to new service innovations and optical spectrum and fractionated or virtual fiber pair became standard service offering creating affordably scalable models, allowing new consortium members to onboard midway.

China Telecom (Africa and Middle East) Limited (CTMEA), the Middle East and Africa subsidiaryof China Telecom Global (CTG), one of the world’s largest providers of integrated telecommunication services, has recently announced that it is establishing an inter-connection network and telecommunications hub to support growing traffic demands at Teraco data center in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. Teraco is Africa’s first vendor neutral data centre.

Teraco, Africa’s largest vendor neutral colocation data centre provider has said that clients currently making use of its data centres in Cape Town and Johannesburg are set to benefit from the cross connection to the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) – Africa’s first transatlantic link connecting Africa to the Americas.

Owned by Angola Cables, the new subsea network provides the most direct routing for internet traffic across the Atlantic and according to Teraco, will bring immense opportunity for clients within the data centre.

Angola Cables announced recently that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Broadband Infraco to facilitate internet connectivity into Africa. Broadband Infraco provides extensive regional long-distance network coverage in South Africa. Angola Cables owns WACS, SACS and Monet subsea networks connecting South Africa to Brazil and the United States. The cooperation will offer South African consumers an improved usage and low-latency internet connectivity.

Telxius announced recently that Telxius has established a key point of presence in QTS’ Richmond mega data center, responding to increasing demand for high capacity and low latency connectivity to Europe and South America via the new MAREA - BRUSA sea cables. MAREA and BRUSA cables terminate in the new Virginia Beach Cable Landing Station (VBCLS). QTS Richmond is the closest Tier 3 designed data center to the VBCLS. QTS Richmond mega data center is connected to its new Ashburn data center with direct fiber routes. Telxius has extended MAREA - BRUSA cables to Equinix DC2.

According to Developing Telecom news, the Mislatel consortium, which is made up of China Telecom, Chelsea Holdings and Udenna Corporation, has been chosen to found the Philippines’ third mobile operator.

[Tianjin, China, November 19, 2018]  Huawei Marine and PCCW Global today announced that the submarine cable used in the MARS project has landed on Rodrigues Island, an outer island that forms part of Mauritius. The MARS project is the first submarine cable system to connect the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues.

Chayora, a Hong Kong-based data centre infrastructure company, announces today that its Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Jones, will be presenting a case study on the approach to complex infrastructure design being taken at Chayora’s first hyperscale DC campus in Tianjin at the Huawei 4^th Annual Data Centre Facility Technology Summit in Xi’an on 15 November 2018.

Vietnam’s CMC Telecom desires to take its brand to the world, leveraging the numerous global industry recognitions and certifications it has scored and its determination to deliv er world-class products and services.

Starting two years ago, following the strategic investment from Malaysia-backed TIME dotCom Berhad (TIME) in 2015, CMC Telecom, one of the four leading telecommunications service providers in Vietnam, has begun its quest to overhaul its brand identity and set the new mission to showcase its brand to the world. The company does so with confidence after achieving international and regional recognitions and awards.

NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2018 -- Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. and its affiliates (collectively, "Cerberus"), a global leader in alternative investing, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Subsea Communications business of TE Connectivity Ltd. ("TE"). Upon closing, the business has been rebranded to SubCom, LLC ("SubCom") and industry veteran David Coughlan has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the new company.

OTEGLOBE won for the second time the Best Eastern European/CIS Wholesale Carrier award at the Global Carrier Awards 2018 that took place in London on Wednesday, 24 October. This award is an acknowledgement of OTEGLOBE’s thoroughly planned and executed strategy, which lead to the company’s continuous growth over the past 12 years.

According to the INDIGO consortium, the INDIGO Central Cable landed at Coogee Beach in Sydney on October 29, 2018, another significant milestone in the implementation of the INDIGO cable system. Installation of the INDIGO Central cable is due to complete early December and once in service, it will provide a new and unique subsea communications link between Sydney and Perth. Optus, a subsidiary of Singtel, is the landing party in Sydney for the INDIGO Central Cable.

Why is SACS a Game Changer?

1. SACS offers an innovative route;
2. SACS will promote the exchange of content between two continents;
3. SACS will promote and expand the devolopment of a digital ecosystem within the Southern Hemisphere;
4. SACS wiill results in the transformation in the regions where it has impacts;
5. SACS is the lowest latency digital connection between Africa and the America;
6. SACS offers high quality and efficiency in intercontinental connections for operators; and
7. SACS system has been designed with an intial capacity of 40Tbps.

The epicentre of action for connectivity driven growth in business operations that are in various stages of digital transformation led by hyperscale growth of Cloud, Content, Broadband Internet and Enterprise WAN is unarguably shifting to APAC. Of all the geographic regions globally, APAC with a cluster of 15 countries including Australia and New Zealand has unique geographic spread with multiple developed and rapidly developing countries with surging industrialization and buoyant knowledge economies topped with liberalized regulatory frameworks that encourages healthy competition with growth in telecom infrastructure.

PCCW Global, the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider, and Chinese technology and industrial giant, the HENGTONG Group, have signed a cooperation agreement to connect China to Europe and Africa via the Pakistan East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) undersea cable project, a new high-speed connection which is planned to go live in early 2020.