United Group, whose brands include Telemach, Vivacom, SBB, and Nova expects to invest more than €500m over the next five years to extend its optical fibre networks into new areas and upgrade existing ones.
In Croatia, the group, which acquired Telemach Hrvatska (formerly Tele2 Croatia) in 2019, said that it would invest up to €100m in the construction of a new fibre optic network that is able to deliver ultrafast broadband at speeds of up to 10Gb/s.
United Group has selected Ekinops’ DWDM solution to help build the network. The company’s 200G and 400G FlexRate single carrier solutions are being combined with its Flex Grid ROADM architecture to enable the long-term flexibility needed across both the regional and core networks.
With the proposed architecture, including the Ekinops advanced software control and creation mechanisms of Celestis NMS, United Group and Telemach Hrvatska can upgrade networks by simply adding new circuits to the main hub locations. A single WDM platform offers a coherent solution for urban and regional long-haul networks, accommodating unpredictable bandwidth demands in densely populated areas, as well as interconnecting with other United Group hubs.
Željko Batistić, vice president, technology at United Group commented: ‘United Group is committed to empower Croatia and South-east Europe with innovative and futureproof connectivity solutions across mobile and fixed services. Central to this is a fibre optic network that’s both robust and flexible enough to meet the needs of subscribers today and as demands evolve. Having worked with Ekinops previously across other affiliates, we’re delighted that its strong technical expertise and collaborative approach have once again delivered a solution that strikes a compelling balance between cost, quality of service and speed.’
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