The latest telecom news includes announcements on Ciena innovation in fibre capacity, Hytera, Vodafone Idea’s fund raising, among others.
DFA and Ciena Push Fibre Limits with 1.6 Tbps Trial
Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) and Ciena have achieved a breakthrough in fibre capacity with a successful world-first trial delivering 1.6 Tbps on a single wavelength over a 40 km link between Isando and Midrand. This milestone, powered by Ciena’s WaveRouter and WaveLogic 6 Extreme, represents a four-fold jump from DFA’s earlier 400 Gbps trial.
The trial paves the way for DFA to offer 400 Gbps, 800 Gbps, and 1.6 Tbps services on a unified platform, strengthening its ability to support South Africa’s growing digital connectivity demands. With the integration of Ciena’s Navigator NCS, DFA gains centralized automation and intelligent traffic management across its network. Willcom also supported the deployment.
Hytera Unveils P30 Lite PoC Radio with NFC for Advanced Connectivity
Hytera has introduced the P30 Lite PoC Radio, a rugged push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) device designed for industries such as security, retail, hospitality, transport, and facility management.
The device operates on cellular networks to deliver reliable push-to-talk communication, equipped with text-to-speech alerts, a 105 dB loudspeaker, and programmable NFC features for patrol logging, access control, and attendance management. Users can configure up to five NFC profiles with 20 NFC points each, making it highly adaptable for operational workflows.
Running on the HyTalk PoC platform, the P30 Lite ensures stable voice communication, audio recovery, and GPS/GLONASS/BDS tracking with 10-meter accuracy, even in areas with poor signal. The device has an IP54 rating, withstands drops up to 1.2 meters, and is powered by a 3,300 mAh hot-swappable battery providing up to 33 hours of operation.
Vodafone Idea to Raise $570 Million for 5G Rollout
Vodafone Idea’s telecom infrastructure arm plans to raise ₹50 billion ($570 million) in September 2025 through short-term bonds to accelerate its 5G rollout across 17 service areas. The bond structure includes ₹30 billion in two-year bonds at approximately 12 percent coupon and ₹20 billion in three-year bonds at around 14 percent coupon, reportedly sourced from private credit funds.
The proceeds will be used for capital expenditure to expand 5G services, strengthening Vodafone Idea’s competitiveness in India’s fast-growing mobile broadband market.
Earlier in May, Vodafone Idea’s board approved raising up to ₹200 billion through equity or debt instruments. The company continues to navigate spectrum and revenue dues, with the Indian government increasing its stake to 48.99 percent in April 2025 after converting dues into equity, according to Reuters.
Shafana Fazal
