New subsea cables have been deployed across the globe, with more investments to be done in the coming three years. Currently, there are over 1.3 million kms of submarine cables that would wrap around Earth more than 30 times end-to-end.

Wholesale and Capacity
Nokia to deploy first ever 25G PON, fastest fiber network in the world
Nokia and Proximus turned on the world’s fastest fiber access network at a media event in Antwerp attended by the Belgian Minister of Telecommunications, the Mayor of Antwerp and executives and engineers from the two companies.
PCCW Global, PEACE Cable to leverage Infinera’s ICE6 optical engine solution
PEACE Cable International Network Co., Limited, an international submarine cable system company devoted to interconnected global communications, and PCCW Global, a leading international telecommunications service provider, announced the deployment of the Infinera ICE6 optical engine solution on the Mediterranean segment of the Pakistan & East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable system.
MTN completes 1,822 km fiber cable project
MTN announced the completion of its part in the long-awaited coastal national long-distance (NLD) cable project, known as NLD 5 and NLD 6. The impressive 1,822 km fiber route coverage starts in Cape Town, runs along the N2, and leads up to Durban.
Double-digit growth in hyperscalers’ CAPEX set to continue
The capital expenditure (CAPEX) of hyperscale cloud operators increased by 31% percent during the first quarter of 2021, bringing the total CAPEX spend over the past four quarters to over $149 billion.
Zain announces new wholesale vision
Kamil Hilali, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer and the newly appointed CEO of Zain Global Services (Wholesale), announced a significant restructuring and new strategy of Zain Group’s wholesale division, an essential part of Zain’s ‘4Sight’ strategy.
Corning introduces revolutionary fiber innovation
Corning Incorporated introduced its latest innovation, Corning SMF-28® Contour optical fiber, to help telecommunications operators address the ever-expanding number of connected devices, build-out of 5G networks, and advances in cloud computing.
West Africa’s leading data center provider to increase capacity by 2023
Nigerian telecoms firm and leading data center provider MainOne has announced plans to expand its data center footprint across West Africa, intending to double its storage capacity through its MDXi data center subsidiary.
SAT-3 and WACS cable break after massive submarine mudslide
Cable breaks or faults on subsea optical cables can impact global digital connectivity and have costly ramifications for businesses and internet users. Three such incidents impacted users on the African continent in 2020 alone. Each year more than a hundred cable breaks are recorded across the world causing disruptions to communications and connectivity.
Etisalat’s new Kalba data center landing point for Africa-1 subsea cable
Etisalat has added a third facility in its SmartHub data centers portfolio with the opening of state-of-art Tier 3 data centre facility in Kalba, which has been selected to be the landing for Africa-1, a new subsea telecom system connecting Africa, the Middle East and Europe.