Neutral Networks, GigNet expand fiber infrastructure in Mexico

Two major fiber optic providers unveiled expansion projects for their respective networks in Mexico, a market where investments are growing strongly on the back of demand for high-speed and reliable connectivity by corporations and individuals.

Mexican wholesale telecoms provider Neutral Networks invested 250mn pesos (US$12.3mn) to conclude the first phase of its Next Fiber Network backbone project, with which it plans to build a 1,250km fiber route between Laredo, in Texas, and Mexico City, company executives told local press.

Neutral Networks, which is owned by the Southern Cross group, offers its infrastructure for government and operators to lease rather than building their own networks.

The first stage of the project consisted of approximately 290km of cable deployed connecting Laredo and Monterrey. The initiative is said to be the first of a Mexican company in using the bed of the Río Bravo river to lay telecom cables between the two countries.

With the conclusion of the first stage, Neutral Networks reaches a deployed network of 3,550km in Mexico, considering other projects and fiber networks purchased from third parties, as well as 300 towers.

The company’s network includes metropolitan rings in 10 cities, and a fiber ring in the city of Querétaro serving the main datacenters and points-of-presence in the region. 

The second stage of Next Fiber Networks refers to the Monterrey-Querétaro stretch and construction is due to start by the end of the year, local daily Milenio reported CEO Gabriel Navarro Assad as saying.

In Mexico, Neutral Networks plans to invest around US$61mn during 2022-24 in wholesale networks.

GIGNET

GigNet, a US telecom and digital infrastructure firm with an extensive fiber backbone network in the Riviera Maya region, said in a release that it started providing broadband and managed services for six branches of Café Nader in the resort city of Cancún, where the business of its Mexican-Caribbean brand is focused.

In the fourth quarter GigNet is also planning to launch GigNet-1, a submarine cable to connect Cancún with Boca Raton in the US. 

A marine survey for the project was completed last May and the installation of the cable, which is due to begin in the coming months, was commissioned to IT International Telecom and Xtera.

“Data consumption is growing faster than many ever imagined and it’s putting stress on old infrastructure that was not built to meet current demands. This is especially true in the Mexican Caribbean, which is underserved by incumbent providers,” GigNet says on its website.

OTHER PROJECTS, MARKET COMPOSITION

Telecoms company Megacable recently unveiled plans to build 3,000km of fiber networks in the Querétaro region, where it just launched a new operations center.

Megacable commands about 15% of Mexico’s fixed telecoms market, which is led by Telcel with a 43% share, followed by Televisa (26%) and Totalplay (14%).

The largest fiber optics network in Mexico belongs to Telmex (320,000km), according to consultancy The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU).

It is followed by the networks of Totalplay (95,633km), Altan (70,240km), Televisa (54,000km), CFE Telecom (50,808km), Axtel, (44,300km) and Megacable (21,245km).

Picture source: Neutral Networks