wiredinUSA June 2015

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wiredInUSA - June 2015 wiredInUSA - June 2015 33 32
ASIA
AFRICA
NEWS
& The RCN (Regional Cable Network)
consortium has announced the commercial
launch of a high-capacity terrestrial fiber
network from Fujairah, UAE to Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, and then to Amman.
The consortium of Etisalat (UAE), Zain and
Orange (Jordan), Turkcell Superonline
(Turkey), Mobily (Saudi Arabia), and Syrian
Telecom(Syria), was established inDecember
2010 to terrestrially link the UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
In its first phase, to maintain a high level
of stability and resilience and due to the
prevailing security conditions in Syria, the
RCN cable system extending from Fujairah to
Amman has been rolled out and is ready for
commercial service.
At present, there are 5,000km of activated
RCN, offering up to 1.2Tbps in multiples of
10G Ethernet. The consortium will extend the
RCN to Turkey in the future, as and when the
socio-political climate in Syria stabilizes, a
statement said. The original agreement was
for a 7,750km fiber optic line.
Ali Amiri, chairman of the consortium
and executive vice president of carrier
and wholesale at Etisalat UAE, said: “The
development and launch of this fiber optic
cable is of great significance to the region as
it avails additional network capacity to the
region.
“The RCN consortium also sets a fantastic
example of multi-country and multi-operator
cooperation, which I believe will become
more necessary in the future as telcos look
to maintain their relevance and appeal in a
rapidly evolving sector,” he added.
ASIA / AFRICA NEWS
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