broadband strategies handbook.pdf - Khazar University

Box 5.1: Connecting the Maldives to the International SubmarineCable NetworkLike most small countries, the Maldives hasbeen relying on satellite technology to connectto the outside world. The main reason is thecost-effectiveness of satellite as compared tofiber cable for the level of international trafficgenerated by this small country. Global submarineoptical fiber cable networks likeSE-ME-WE (South East Asia–Middle East–West Europe) have passed the Maldives, butthe high cost of joining these cable consortiumsprevented the country from reaping thetechnical benefits of optical fiber technology.Although satellite technology was sufficientin the past when voice telephony wasthe driver of international communications,the bandwidth consumed by data applicationshas surpassed the bandwidth usage ofvoice applications. In 2005, the governmentdecided that it was economically feasible toinstall an optical fiber system, and a consortiumwas established among three serviceproviders: Wataniya Telecom Maldives, FocusInfocom Maldives, and Reliance Infocom ofIndia. The consortium, WARF Telecom International,brought the first fiber into the countryin October 2006, which connects theMaldives to the Falcon Network at a nodein Trivandrum, India. In early November,Dhiraagu brought in a cable connecting theMaldives to Colombo, Sri Lanka.Source: Ibrahim and Ahmed 2008, 204.connections between source and destination. Figure 5.5 shows how backbonenetworks have been deployed in Botswana.In developed countries and liberalized telecommunications markets,there may be more than one backbone network. Competing firms, forexample, often lay fiber cables across a country to compete with incumbentlong-distance carriers. This is not usually the case in developing countries,where voice and data traffic demands have not historically required suchhigh-capacity links. Recently, however, developing countries have beenpromoting the development of high-capacity domestic backbones as partof a broader effort to develop regional fiber networks. In Zimbabwe, forexample, incumbent TelOne announced in March 2011 that it had connecteda fiber link to the EASSy system through Mozambique. 15 The link isthe first phase of a planned national backbone rollout that will also includethe Harare-Bulawayo-Beitbridge and Harare-Chirundu routes.It may not be necessary for each operator to have a backbone networkthat covers the entire country. An operator may have an extensive networkcovering one part of a country, but not others. Operators can interconnecttheir respective networks in order to use the backbone network of anotherby purchasing backbone network services or entering interconnectionTechnologies to Support Deployment of Broadband Infrastructure 211