WCA September 2009

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24 Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2009
Of related interest . . .
State-owned New Zealand com- ✆ ✆
munications provider Kordia is
reported to be pushing ahead with
a plan to roll out an alternative
submarine cable system linking
the country with Australia across
the Tasman Sea. As noted by
TeleGeography (3rd July), the govern-
ment had second thoughts about
the project, but Kordia CEO Geoff
Hunt said the $200 million needed
could be funded by its potential
customer telecoms, equity from
the company, and bank finance.
The proposed system would com-
pete with the existing Southern
Cross network, partly owned by
incumbent Telecom New Zealand,
and would bring down the cost
of international bandwidth for
New Zealanders. In Mr Hunt’s
view, the project is essential in light
of the government’s recent $953
million commitment to developing
ultra-fast broadband.
The finalised plan, including a
deployment contract with Australia’s
Pipe International, is to be put before
the Kordia board for approval in
September.
An acquisition of
Deutsche Telekom’s
British wireless unit would
strengthen Vodafone’s
competitive position
Vodafone Group Plc (Newbury,
England), the world’s largest mobile
phone company, is considering a
bid for T-Mobile UK Ltd, the British
wireless unit of Deutsche Telekom AG,
the Sunday Times (London) reported
on 29th June, citing a source familiar
with the situation.
T-Mobile UK had sales of $5.6 billion
last year. The deal would create an
entity with 50% of the mobile market
of the United Kingdom.
As estimated by industry media, there
are more than 70 million mobile phone
subscribers in the UK. Vodafone had
18.7 million UK mobile customers
at the end of March, the company
said, while Deutsche Telekom had
16.7 million, according to its website.
An acquisition of Deutsche Telekom’s
UK operations, including connections
for Virgin Mobile subscribers, would
boost Vodafone’s UK users tomore than
35 million.
Simon Thiel and Marcel van de Hoef,
of Bloomberg News, observed that
five companies offer services in
the congested UK mobile phone
market in which Vodafone operates,
compared with four in Italy and three
in France. They wrote, “Bringing
together its UK mobile operations
with those of Deutsche Telekom
may fit into the strategy of Vodafone
chief executive officer Vittorio Colao,
who took over in July last year.
He is pushing managers to bolster
existing operations and squeeze more
profit from them” rather than expand
in new markets. (“Vodafone May
Bid for Deutsche Telekom’s UK Unit.”
29 th June)
Both Vodafone and T-Mobile UK
declined to comment on whether a
deal is under discussion. If it does
come to pass, it would strengthen
Vodafone’s competitive position,
said Koris Franssen of Kempen
Capital Management, in Amsterdam,
who monitors both companies.
Mr Franssen told Bloomberg, “Fewer
players in the market often means
more stable pricing, which will make
the business more profitable.”
Alcatel-Lucent to serve ads
to willing mobile-phone
customers in Germany
Alcatel-Lucent on 29th June announced
a deal with the German wireless carrier
E-Plus Group that offers a glimpse
into the mobile advertising of the
future. E-Plus is a member of the KPN
group of companies, which according
to the KPN website has 31 million
mobile phone customers in Germany,
Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Now, E-Plus is using Alcatel-Lucent’s
new Advertising Selection Server to
offer its mobile users advertising for a
variety of retail goods.
In response to mounting demand for high-bandwidth communication,
including enterprise network services and the Internet, eight of Asia’s biggest
telecommunication companies have signed a memorandum of understanding
to build a new submarine fibre optic network in a region vulnerable to subsea
earthquakes. The Asia-Pacific Gateway, a 4,970-mile network with a minimum
design capacity of four terabits per second, is intended to go into service
in 2011.
As reported by Asia-Pacific correspondent Ek Heng on Telecommagazine.com
(3rd June), the proposed network will connect Japan, Korea, mainland China,
Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and
Singapore. The signatories to the development agreement are China Telecom,
China Unicom, and Chunghwa Telecom; NTT Communication (Japanese),
Vietnam Post and Telecommunications; Korea Telecom; Philippines Long
Distance Telephone; and Telekom Malaysia. The companies will jointly finance
and co-own the network.
The Asia-Pacific Gateway will offer alternative communication routes and
nodes to counter the effects of subsea earthquakes or accidents. Its high
redundancy will minimise the impact of breakdowns in service provided by
regional fibre optic networks. Advanced DWDM (dense wavelength division
multiplexing) technologies will ensure interconnectivity with existing and
planned high-bandwidth communication systems in the region.
Three of the telecoms in the consortium – Philippines Long Distance
Telephone, Vietnam Post and Telecommunications, and Telekom Malaysia
– also are participants, with 15 others, in the 12,420-mile Asia-America
Gateway project scheduled for completion by the end of this year. The
$550 million network will link Southeast Asian countries – Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Philippines – with the
West Coast of the United States, Guam and Hawaii.
Eight telecoms plan the subsea fibre optic network
Asia-Pacific Gateway