Int’l Backbone Bytes: NTT, Sparkle, Tata, Teliasonera, Telstra

Here’s a set of quick takes on news from the international backbone marketplace this week:

The Japanese telecommunications giant NTT picked up an IP transit customer on the extreme other side of the Asian continent. Türk Telekom International has selected them for wholesale transit, helping it expand its services throughout the Middle East and Eastern Europe. NTT has been adding PoPs steadily throughout Europe over the past few years, and seems like a natural partner for Turk Telecom.

TI Sparkle also had some IP transit success in the Middle East. Saudi Telecom has picked them for their first multi-100Gbps connection. The 2x100Gbps link in Palermo, Sicily, will provide Saudi customers some significantly bigger pipes with which to reach into Europe. TI Sparkle is working hard to turn its Sicilian assets into one of the key peering points for the Middle East and North Africa.

Tata and China Telecom have struck up a new video network partnership. The arrangement helps Tata reach deep into the Chinese market when it comes to media content, and gives China Telecom Global access to a truly global fiber network to help with its own delivery needs. The two have already collaborated on the delivery of the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships in Shanghai recently.

Teliasonera International Carrier has a new infrastructure partner in the US. They are working with Unite Private Networks in order to expand their 100G reach around the Dallas metro area, one of many expansion projects lately in North America for the Swedish giant. Meanwhile, UPN will use TSIC’s waves and IP transit to meet its own demands for connectivity outside its regional footprint.

And Telstra continues to integrate Pacnet’s assets into its own global footprint. They’ve taken the SDN-powered PEN network into their own optical layer, following up on Pacnet’s moves before the acquisition. They’ve also announced plans to keep on virtualizing right into the company’s managed services offerings. It’s looking more and more like Pacnet’s aggressive move into SDN is what really got the Australian giant’s inorganic attention.

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Categories: ILECs, PTTs · Internet Backbones · SDN