It's already been a busy week for the telecom sector around the world. Here are some highlights.
Reliance Globalcom has appointed a new CEO for its offshore businesses, which consist of the Flag, Yipes, and Vanco assets. None other than Bill Barney will be taking the helm, a bit more than a year and a half after his unexpected departure from Pacnet, which he had led for some 10 years. The company’s current CEO Punit Garg will be tightening his focus to the Indian enterprise market. Bringing in Barney suggests that Reliance hasn’t found a way to monetize the Globalcom assets in the near term despite some strong rumors last Spring that a deal was near.
Cienapicked up another transpacific 100G win late last week at Pacnet. Pacnet is upgrading its transpacific link, which consists of two of the five fiber pairs of the Unity cable connecting Japan with the US West Coast. Ciena’s coherent 100G technology is providing the reach for the 9,600 undersea miles.
Huawei Marine has completed a unique, 10 month submarine cable build for the Portuguese telecom Viatel (a new one to me, and distinct from the Viatel that is now part of Digiweb in the UK). The 685km Flores-Corvo Submarine Cable System completes connectivity for the Atlantic archipelago known as the Azores. Flores and Corvo are the easternmost of the chain, and had been served by satellite. As part of the build, the new cable apparently traverses a 70 foot cliffside as it comes on shore.
And while Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile US unit continues to get M&A rumor attention, its International Carrier Sales & Solutions division is expanding in Asia. ICSS has opened a new IP PoP in Hong Kong, giving it a base from which to better serve Asian markets. They hope to double their market share in Asia within three years.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.