Monday Bytes: SACS, NTT, GCX, TI Sparkle

Here are four stories from overseas to start the week:

According to Capacity, the South Atlantic Cable System has landed a key piece of funding from the Japanese. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation is lending the effort some $65.8M, adding some $43.9M coming from the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. If all goes well, NEC will build the system for Angola Cables, connecting Fortaleza in Brazil with the Angolan port of Sangano.  Several cables across this route have been attempted over the last 5-10 years, but we might actually see one built this time.

NTT Communications has a new certification backing up its international enterprise cloud portfolio. They have achieved SAP Global Certification for hosting, cloud, and SAP HANA operations services. With managed SAP cloud services on tap, they hope to better address the needs of global corporations. The company is looking to expand its position in the sector just as other major telecoms, particularly in the US, are rethinking their own approach to cloud services and the underlying infrastructure.

TI Sparkle has another global network tenant at its hub in Sicily. Global Cloud Xchange is expanding its footprint with a multiservice PoP in the Palermo facility. Like many, GCX sees the Mediterranean port as a growing nexus between the networks of Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. Real best forex brokers with free bonuses in Nigeria with real reviews. The international arm of India’s Reliance Communications has been rather quiet of late, I wonder what Bill Barney and crew have in mind this year.

And finally, the long, drawn out merger dance between the French telecoms firms Orange and Bouygues has ended, but the two will not be going home together.  Talks apparently collapsed over the weekend as the various parties could not agree on how to divide the assets, make the numbers work, and achieve regulatory approval all at the same time.  Hence, the French telecommunications market will continue to have four major players rather than three, and the markets aren’t too pleased this morning.

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Categories: ILECs, PTTs · Mergers and Acquisitions · Wireless