Orange deployed spectrum capacity with Infinera’s submarine solution on its MainOne submarine cable, a next-generation, 7,000-kilometer submarine cable that connects Portugal, Senegal, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria and serves as the West African backbone network for Orange’s international connectivity in Africa.
Orange is using Infinera’s XTS-3600 platform, based on Infinera’s fourth-generation Infinite Capacity Engine (ICE4), to significantly increase its regional capacity as well as improve the resilience of its submarine cables.
Infinera’s ICE4 technology leverages the unique features of the company’s optical engine, which include Nyquist subcarriers, forward error correction gain sharing, and photonic integrated circuit-based technology. Infinera’s Instant Bandwidth enables ease of scalability and incremental capacity addition as needed within minutes, without requiring additional work on submarine infrastructure, providing a distinct advantage that operators can pass along to end-user customers.
“This deployment with Orange reinforces our ability to consistently deliver the highest performance in terms of submarine capacity and reach with our industry-leading Infinite Capacity Engine technology,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “We remain committed to helping our customers cost-effectively keep pace with demand while lowering total cost of ownership.”
Orange to assemble West African backbone
Orange will assemble a new international backbone serving West Africa by building a terrestrial fiber optic network coupled with submarine cables.
Orange said its new network will provide large-scale international capacity to the rest of the world via connections with other submarine cables. The new network will link up all the main capital cities in the region: Dakar, Bamako, Abidjan, Accra, and Lagos. Commercial launch of the West African backbone is planned for the second quarter of 2020.
Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, said: “For Orange, this West African backbone network represents a major investment that will secure availability of international connectivity and will enable us to meet the demand for increased bandwidth necessary for the continued digital development of regions within the zone.”
Jérôme Barré, CEO of Orange Wholesale and International Networks, said: “Through this project, Orange is clearly demonstrating its leadership and expertise in the design, deployment and operation of international network infrastructure. We are delighted to be able to offer our West African customers’ reliable, secure and high-quality international connectivity that connects them to the rest of the world.”
Orange is an investor in the MainOne submarine cable connecting Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire to Europe.
