WCA January 2015

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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2015
Telecomnews
As reported in TeleGeography
(17th October), Ciena is supplying
optical transport equipment based
on its GeoMesh undersea cable
portfolio, as well as retaining
the responsibility for project
management and integration.
The 9,320-mile EIG runs from
Britain to India, connecting 12
countries across three continents.
The first phase of the 100G
upgrade saw installation of
the Ciena 6500 packet-optical
transport system on the link
between the UK and Djibouti,
while the second stage will
introduce 100G connectivity
through to India.
Ø Discussing Trinidad and Tobago’s
telecommunications industry, the
country’s science and technology
minister said that – at 146 per cent
in 2013 – mobile penetration in the
Caribbean nation off the coast of
Venezuela is among the world’s
highest.
As reported by Leah Sorias in the
Trinidad Express (10th October),
Dr Rupert Griffith also noted that,
in 2014, the World Economic
Forum Global IT Report ranked
Trinidad and Tobago first among
148 countries in mobile network
coverage.
“And we expect domestic
broadband penetration to reach
98 per cent by 2018,” Dr Griffith
told delegates to the Americas
Competitiveness Forum held on
9th October in the capital, Port of
Spain.
To that end, Trinidad and Tobago
will soon select a third mobile
operator from among four
companies that have applied
for a concession and licence:
Cable and Wireless, Columbus
Communications Trinidad, Star
Mobile Caribbean, and Telesur.
Ø Viettel Group on 15th October
announced the launch of its Bitel
mobile network in Peru. The
Vietnamese telecom said that Bitel
is the first mobile operator with
a 3G-only network in Peru, with
Internet mobile coverage in 80 per
cent of the nation.
“In such a highly competitive
market with a density close
to 100 per cent penetration,
mobile Internet is the future of
telecommunication,” said CEO
Hoang Quoc Quyen.
Although Viettel has 68 million
customers in 10 countries, Peru is
the first of its overseas markets to
have a considerably higher GDP
than Vietnam.
The company has a presence in
Cambodia, Laos, Timor, Haiti,
Mozambique and Cameroon,
and is preparing to expand into
Burundi and Tanzania.
Ø With the launch of Arsat-1 on
16th October, Argentina became
the first Latin American nation to
build and operate a geostationary
satellite.
Arsat-1 will be “parked” over
Argentina but will enable coverage
of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay,
Uruguay, the Malvinas Islands,
and Argentine bases in the
Antarctic.
Rural areas within its orbit will
benefit from improved Internet
access and data, telephone and
television services.
As noted in the Buenos Aires
Herald (17th October), some 400
specialists have worked on Arsat-1
since 2006.
Geostationary satellites are
considered the most complex
to develop and operate as they
are required to orbit at the
same speed as the earth while
maintaining sufficient distance to
transmit over a wide area.
The first in a series of three
satellites for the Argentine
Geostationary Satellite Tele-
communications System, Arsat-1
was designed for a working life
of 15 years. Its estimated cost is
$270 million.
Ø According to a study reported
in Business News Americas in
October, two-thirds of Chileans –
some 12 million people – consider
themselves regular Internet users,
and the proportion was expected
to reach 70 per cent of the
population by the end of 2014.
A survey conducted by
Universidad de Chile and
government researchers produced
statistics showing that 62 per cent
of Chilean households have an
Internet connection.
This is 12 percentage points
below the average in the 34
member-countries of the Paris-
based OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and
Development) but 27 percentage
points above the South American
average.
In urban areas of Chile, 65 per
cent of households have Internet;
in rural areas, 40 per cent.
To broaden coverage, the
government has rolled out initia-
tives including its 2.6Ghz and
700Mhz programmes, which
together will reach more than
1,700 isolated communities and
over 500 schools.
The WiFi ChileGob programme
will also provide free Internet
connections to an additional
543 communities and introduce
a fibre optic service in Chile’s
southernmost zone.
Ø President Barack Obama said on
9 th October that the United States
is “unequivocally committed” to
net neutrality – the requirement
that broadband network providers
be altogether detached from
what information is sent over their
networks.
At a town hall meeting in
California, Mr Obama said his
administration would make cer-
tain that net neutrality remains
untouched.
“It’s what has unleashed the
power of the Internet,” he said.
“And we don’t want to lose that or
clog up the pipes.”
Mr Obama’s statements to a
group of tech entrepreneurs in
the start-up community in Santa
Monica strongly signalled to
the Federal Communications
Commission that it must heed the
overwhelming public sentiment
expressed in 3.7 million comments
received by the commission.
A large majority of those
comments, solicited by the FCC,
came out against Internet fast
lanes – the practice known as paid
prioritisation.