Wholesale and Capacity

Nokia Bell Labs announced that its researchers have set the world record for the highest single carrier bit rate at 1.52 Terabits per second (Tbit/s) over 80 km of standard single mode fiber - the equivalent of simultaneously streaming 1.5 million YouTube videos – which is four times the market’s current state-of-the-art of approximately 400 Gigabits per second. This world record, along with other optical networking innovations announced recently, will further strengthen Nokia’s ability to develop networks for the 5G era that meet the ever-growing data, capacity and latency demands of industrial Internet of Things and consumer applications.

As the amount of data being generated continues to increase – from 5G and data-producing devices like sensors and cameras, to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality – new technologies are dramatically reshaping the data center in order to meet the rising demands.

Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier and Orange International Carriers have connected their networks, so both companies can offer their customers HD voice services and support the industry with enhanced voice offerings.

Ciena, Verizon and Juniper Networks, have recently completed a test in Verizon’s live fiber network to move 800 Gbps of data on a single wavelength.

Türk Telekom International (TTI), the international arm of Türk Telekom Group handling all international data, wholesale voice and roaming business functions, and PCCW Global, the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider, have signed a long-term master service agreement for TTI to provision Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SDWAN) services in collaboration with PCCW Global for their enterprise customers, reducing unnecessary traffic over MPLS networks and enabling the secure, efficient use of online cloud services while providing more capacity for mission-critical applications.

The Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable system has been upgraded to accelerate and strengthen connectivity between businesses in the UK, Europe, Middle East and India. The upgrade involved Ciena's submarine network system to utilise flexible, express wavelengths, known as optical bypass, to cut operational costs as well as space and power requirements, while improving reliability. 

CityFibre, provider of wholesale fibre network infrastructure, has revealed 36 additional locations to benefit from full fibre as part of its up to £4bn Gigabit City Investment Programme, now targeting up to 8 million premises.

Wholesale carriers are facing a growing number of challenges, including considerable changes in their revenue mix, an ongoing shift from voice to data, increasing focus on mobility, and a dent in revenue due to OTT services. Despite the many challenges in the market, wholesale carriers still have an opportunity to generate revenue for their company.

Major Pan-African telecommunications service provider, SEACOM, and Tata Communications, a leading global digital infrastructure provider, have joined forces to offer high-speed, reliable pathways between Africa, Europe and Asia to meet the growing demand for connectivity linking these regions.