NEWS HIGHLIGHTS Brsk was founded by Giorgio Iovino and Ian


Kock in 2020, both founding members of Vumatel in South Africa. Te provider started its network build in West Yorkshire, UK, and expanded across four regions covering a total of 70,000 premises passed within 18 months from launch. It is adding more than 10,000 premises per month with plans to double that build rate in the near term. Iovino said of the new investment: “We are


running along Africa’s west coast, from Portugal to South Africa, with branching units that can extend connectivity to additional African countries. Te cable was Google’s third private international cable aſter Dunant and Curie, and its 14th subsea cable investment. Its infrastructure is based on space-division


multiplexing (SDM) technology and incorporates optical switching at the fibre-pair level, rather than wavelength-level switching. Tis is designed to simplify the allocation of cable capacity, providing the flexibility to add and reallocate it in different locations as needed. West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC)


is a key partner in Equiano, landing the cable in Lagos, Nigeria, and owning a full fibre pair on the system. As a fibre pair owner, the company’s Equiano capacity is upgradable fully under its own control. It owns and manages its own submarine line terminating equipment, choosing to light and upgrade its capacity as it wishes to meet the needs and demands of its clients. Services available from WIOCC in South Africa


include high-quality carrier IP Transit, point-to- point national connectivity and high-performance metro connect, and open access colocation services in specific locations – via OADC. Chris Wood, CEO at WIOCC Group, said: “Our


investment in Equiano continues our long-standing policy of making strategic investments in subsea cables. We own almost a third of the >10Tb/s EASSy system, which extends from South Africa along Africa’s eastern coastline to Djibouti and Port Sudan; we deliver more capacity than any other carrier on the WACS system, which links South Africa to Western Europe and lands in many countries along the west coast of Africa; and we are a member of the 2Africa cable, which will bring another high-capacity connectivity option to Africa during 2023/24.”


SEPTEMBER


Te appetite for investment news made a comeback in September, as UK alternative network provider, Brsk, secured a £103m debt investment from funds managed by Ares Management Corporation’s (Ares) Infrastructure Debt strategy. Te company said at the time that the funding was able to be upsized to £178m over time to support future growth.


8 Staying in the UK, the other most widely read


story for the month was the news that TXO, a provider of critical telecom network hardware and asset management services, launched a range of FTTx street cabinets to help service providers avoid supply chain challenges. Te cabinets offer 10- to 12-year lifecycles and can be delivered within eight weeks, which is significantly less than the current supply-chain delivery time of up to a year. It’s a response to the drive to speed up


connectivity rollout, as street cabinets enable the distribution of fibre from a street to a home or business, but supply chain issues are impacting this. TXO plans to service the street cabinets with refurbished equipment as part of its circular economy model. Darren Pearce, Group CEO at TXO, said of


the launch: “A lack of fibre cabinets is a growing issue in the UK, impacting many businesses and consumers. By servicing our street cabinets with refurbished parts, operators can reap the benefits of the circular economy, such as lowering carbon emissions, minimising waste and cost reduction.” Tis focus on the circular economy and wider


sustainability is delivering growth for TXO, as Kieran Crawford, Group Sales Director, told


delighted to welcome Ares as our new financing partner. Tis financing comes at an important time as we continue to invest in ramping up our build rate to expand our network and achieve our goal of 1 million premises passed. People in the UK have suffered from poor broadband for too long. We will continue to upgrade areas that are reliant on outdated copper connectivity.” James Fox, Managing Director, Infrastructure


Debt at Ares, added: “We have been impressed by the experience of the Brsk management team and share their enthusiasm for improving digital connectivity across the UK. We are proud to be partnering with Giorgio, Ian and the team in delivering gigabit broadband across the regions.”


Fibre Systems: “Tere are three things driving our business at the moment: sustainable practise, which we have been preaching about since 2005; the supply-chain challenges, and cost. Shortages have been driving a lot of behavioural change, with procurement also geting smarter about planning ahead. OEMS are the second biggest users of second-hand products internationally and we see much more awareness about this now. Te circular economy will see acceleration and, alongside the growth of the altnets, which obviously tend to be smaller and more agile, there’s a real shiſt in awareness going on.”


OCTOBER


FTTH in the USA caught people’s interest in October, as Google Fiber launched 5 and 8Gb/s services. Te company said that both the 5 and 8Gb/s products offer symmetrical upload and download speeds, a wifi 6 router and up to two mesh extenders. Te 5Gb/s service costs $125-per- month and 8Gb/s costs $150-per-month. Te company started with a call for customers


to test these new speed tiers, beginning with eligible existing customers in Utah, Kansas City and West Des Moines. In a blog post on the announcement, Google


Fiber’s Director of Product Management, Amalia O’Sullivan, said: “At Google Fiber, we want to make sure our customers are ready for whatever the internet throws their way. While 2 Gig answered the call for many gamers and power streamers, 5 Gig and 8 Gig are designed for even heavier internet users – creative professionals, people working in the cloud or with large data, households with large shared internet demands. People who create and utilise large files need the ability to transfer them efficiently. For those who work on the cloud or in real time, like with financial transactions, it’s helpful to know there’s less lag between pushing send and making something happen. 5 Gig and 8 Gig can help these customers take on whatever they need online and be ready for whatever is coming next.” Te announcement followed the company


naming Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska and Nevada as the five states into which it will expand its FTTP network in a move that marked its first major expansion announcement since 2015.


2023?


At the time of going to press we don’t yet know what the top stories will be in November and December 2022. But over the following pages we have some exciting insights from some of the leading associations, analysts and organisations to provide an idea of the key topics and technologies that could make the biggest impact as we go into 2023 and beyond.


Fibre Yearbook 2023


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