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Aug. 11, 2026, 01:00 AM

UNIFI Communications, Syrian Telecom, and CYTA Sign Landmark UGARIT 2 Submarine Cable Agreement — the First Major International Infrastructure Deal of Post-Sanctions Syria

PRESS RELEASE GlobeNewswire

NEW YORK and DAMASCUS and NICOSIA, Aug. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UNIFI Communications, Inc., the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE), and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA) announced the execution of the Construction & Maintenance Agreement for UGARIT 2, signed in Damascus on July 28, 2026 — the first major international infrastructure agreement to reach execution under Syria's new economic framework, and a decisive step in reconnecting the country to the global digital economy.

The 240-kilometer repeaterless system will link Pentaskhinos, Cyprus to Tartous, Syria with twenty-four fiber pairs, delivering 31 Tbps of capacity at launch and scalable to 370 Tbps — replacing the original UGARIT cable that has served Syria since 1995. The project has been in development since 2024 under specific license SY-2024-1242538-1 issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), with the system built entirely on technology from U.S.-allied manufacturers in alignment with Clean Network principles.

A Historic Milestone for Syria's Reconstruction

UGARIT 2 arrives at a pivotal moment. Under the leadership of President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria is modernizing its investment framework and opening its economy to international partnership, while Minister Abdulsalam Haykal's digital transformation agenda is positioning connectivity at the heart of reconstruction. The new system will connect the country directly to European internet exchanges — supporting a growing digital economy, the return of millions of refugees and diaspora professionals, and the broader rebuilding effort. The agreement reflects the confidence of international partners in Syria's future and positions the country to attract investment and participate fully in the global digital economy.

Implementation Roadmap

The consortium's supply chain is already in motion: the wet plant has been ordered from Prysmian (NSW), Elettra TLC has been selected for turnkey marine installation, and Nokia will supply the DWDM optical transmission equipment for Phase 1. The marine route survey and cable manufacturing are underway, with Ready for Service targeted for early 2028, subject to Eastern Mediterranean conditions and vessel availability.

Principal Statements

“Syria is building a digital hub at the crossroads of three continents. UGARIT 2, alongside our SilkLink initiative, establishes Syria as a connectivity gateway between Europe, the Gulf, and Asia.”

H.E. Abdulsalam Haykal · Minister of Communications and IT, Syria

“UGARIT 2 is proof that USA technology, European partnership, and Syrian determination can together deliver critical infrastructure in the most complex environments — a Terabit-class system transforming Syria from an endpoint into a digital crossroads.”

Adrian Shatku · Founder & CEO, UNIFI Communications

“UGARIT 2 will provide Syria with resilient, high-capacity international connectivity at a time when our nation needs it most, reflecting the trust and shared commitment between our three organizations to Syria's infrastructure recovery.”

Jamal Eddin Khatib · Chairman, Syrian Telecommunications Establishment

“Strategic investment in regional and international network infrastructure is fundamental to enabling secure, resilient, high-capacity connectivity for the Eastern Mediterranean region.”

George Metzakis · CEO, Cyta

About the Consortium Partners

Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE): national telecom operator of the Syrian Arab Republic. STE has driven UGARIT 2 and operates the Tartous landing station, Syria's primary gateway to the global internet. www.syriantelecom.com.sy

CYTA: leading provider of integrated electronic communications in Cyprus and a major Eastern Mediterranean telecom hub. Cyta operates the Pentaskhinos landing station, UGARIT 2's European landing point onward to European and global networks. www.cyta.com.cy

UNIFI Communications, Inc.: U.S.-based international carrier and AI infrastructure service provider headquartered at One World Trade Center, New York. Founded in 1999 and FCC Section 214-authorized, UNIFI serves 450+ providers in 70+ countries, holds the OFAC license and BIS export authorization for UGARIT 2, and serves as Prime Contractor and 5% owner. www.unificom.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements; actual results may differ materially due to regulatory approvals, vendor capacity, regional security conditions, marine weather, and changes in applicable regulatory frameworks. All milestone dates are preliminary and subject to revision.

Media Contact

Melissa Nunez, UNIFI Communications · media@unificom.com | +1 (212) 845-9095

An image accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d1b57d67-f1b6-496e-b5ce-be5ae5ea4715

August 4, 2026
CoreWeave Expands Cloud AI Platform to Indonesia, Marking First Move Into Asia-Pacific Region

New Facilities Extend CoreWeave's Global Buildout into Southeast Asia, Serving AI Pioneers Across Region

CoreWeave, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRWV), The Essential Cloud for AI™, today announced its expansion into Indonesia, the company's first data center presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The expansion adds three new facilities totaling 360 megawatts of contracted IT power, expected to come online in 2028.

[...]
The Indonesia facilities add to CoreWeave's rapidly growing global infrastructure footprint. As of March 31, 2026, CoreWeave operated 49 data centers globally, with more than 1GW of active power and over 3.5GW of contracted power supporting AI workloads at scale.

Previous PR regarding Nokia's selection:
September 16, 2024
Nokia selected by CoreWeave to provide networking backbone behind hyperscale AI cloud

July 21, 2026
O2 reaches 500 ‘Giga Site’ milestone in major UK mobile network upgrade

• O2 has switched on its 500th Giga Site as part of a major network upgrade
• Giga Sites are O2’s most advanced mobile sites, combining the latest technologies to improve coverage, speeds and capacity for customers as demand for mobile data continues to grow
• The rollout forms part of O2’s £700m Mobile Transformation Plan, which is upgrading mobile coverage, reliability and performance across the UK

The milestone marks the halfway point in O2’s ambition to deploy 1,000 Giga Sites nationwide this year as part of its £700m Mobile Transformation Plan, which is delivering major upgrades through new sites, small cells, 4G and 5G upgrades, automation and additional spectrum deployment.

March 31, 2026
Virgin Media O2 accelerates its Mobile Transformation Plan with major network modernisation deals

• Virgin Media O2 has signed new multi-year agreements with strategic partners Ericsson and Nokia to upgrade its radio access network (RAN)
• The agreements will see thousands of mobile sites across the country upgraded to next-generation 5G technology, boosting capacity, coverage and reliability for customers
• The investment forms part of the Virgin Media O2’s Mobile Transformation Plan, which will see the operator invest a further £700m into its mobile network this year to deliver a further step-change in network performance for customers

March 31, 2026
Nokia wins new 5G RAN deal with Virgin Media O2 to accelerate its Mobile Transformation Plan

Lyntia completes the evolution of its IP network to strengthen the security, scalability and efficiency of its connectivity services

The company is incorporating Nokia's IP technology to move towards a homogeneous, automatable infrastructure ready for the new demands of cloud, data centers and distributed artificial intelligence.

Madrid, July 15, 2026 – lyntia Networks has completed the transformation of its IP backbone network by adopting Nokia IP technology as a strategic platform for its entire transport infrastructure and services.

The new infrastructure provides a homogeneous technological foundation to accelerate innovation, simplify end-to-end operation and enable new automation, resilience and scalability capabilities, allowing Lyntia to continue evolving its service offering for operators, public administrations, companies, cloud and hyperscale providers.

“The transformation of our IP network represents much more than a technological evolution. We have built a platform prepared to face some of the major challenges that will define the next decade: technological sovereignty, advanced communications security, and the exponential growth of workloads associated with artificial intelligence,” stated Julio Vegas , Head of IP & Ethernet at lyntia.

“Artificial intelligence is radically changing the role of networks. They are no longer mere platforms for connecting people and applications, but are becoming a fundamental element for providing intelligence securely, reliably, and at scale. Lyntia’s network transformation reflects this change. With Nokia’s IP technology, Lyntia is building a future-proof infrastructure with the scale, automation, security, and resilience needed to drive innovation across Spain’s digital economy ,” commented Matthieu Bourguignon, Senior Vice President of Network Infrastructure for Europe at Nokia.

A commitment to European technological sovereignty

In a context where strategic autonomy, the resilience of critical infrastructures and data protection are becoming increasingly important, Lyntia reinforces its positioning through an architecture based on technology manufactured by a European company and aligned with the highest standards of security, reliability and innovation.

Adopting a single IP platform for the entire transport and services infrastructure accelerates the technological evolution of the network, optimizes its operation, and provides customers with a connectivity environment ready to support critical services and next-generation applications.

As part of this evolution, the network is prepared to incorporate post-quantum encryption mechanisms in level 2 and level 3 connectivity services, anticipating future challenges in protecting communications in a scenario marked by the arrival of quantum computing.

A network designed for Distributed Artificial Intelligence

The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence is transforming how digital infrastructures are designed. New AI models are moving towards distributed architectures in which different phases of the inference process can be run in geographically separate data centers to optimize performance, reduce latency, and improve energy efficiency.

In this new paradigm, the network ceases to be a mere transport mechanism and becomes a fundamental element of the computing architecture.

Lyntia's IP infrastructure has been designed to support these emerging models, facilitating the efficient and secure transport of distributed workloads between specialized data centers.

This approach allows each workload to be assigned to the most appropriate resource at any given time, simultaneously optimizing the use of computing capacity, the user experience, and the energy consumption associated with inference processes.

With this transformation, Lyntia positions itself as one of the best-prepared connectivity infrastructures to support the next generation of Distributed Artificial Intelligence architectures, where the network is as important as computing power.

A differentiating model for the next generation of digital services

The combination of an IP infrastructure manufactured by a European company, advanced security capabilities, and an architecture prepared for the evolution of Artificial Intelligence gives Lyntia a distinct position within the Spanish telecommunications market.

The technological homogeneity of the platform facilitates the incorporation of new functionalities, improves operational efficiency and accelerates the adoption of innovations in areas such as automation, cybersecurity, network observability and advanced connectivity services.

The company is thus reinforcing its role as a strategic provider of digital infrastructure for Spain and Europe, building a network prepared to support the next generation of cloud services, critical applications and Artificial Intelligence platforms.

For decades, networks have been designed to connect people, businesses, and applications. The next decade will demand networks capable of connecting intelligence. Lyntia's new IP network has been designed for that future.

About Lyntia

Lyntia is a neutral wholesale operator with over 57,000 km of deployed fiber, offering optical connectivity, transport, internet access, cloud connect, and colocation solutions. Its network covers more than 300,000 buildings and connects the main data centers in the Iberian Peninsula, positioning it as the digital hub of Southern Europe.

About Nokia

Nokia is a global leader in connectivity for the age of artificial intelligence. With our expertise in fixed, mobile, and transport networks, we drive connectivity to ensure a better world.

July 13, 2026
Construction begins on Nokia’s Ottawa innovation campus

July 15, 2026
Broccolini begins construction on Nokia’s innovation campus in Ottawa

June 25, 2026
Guru Parulkar Takes Helm of Nokia Bell Labs Research

• Guru Parulkar appointed Head of Nokia Bell Labs Research
• Bell Labs Core Research and Bell Labs Solutions Research to be combined into a single research organization
• Focus areas include AI, networking, cloud, edge computing, and next-generation connectivity
• Parulkar’s background includes Stanford University, ONF, Intel, DARPA-backed programs, and startup leadership
• Peter Vetter to retire on July 17 after nearly 20 years leading Bell Labs Core Research
• Move aligns Bell Labs research efforts around AI-era technology development

June 25, 2026
SubCo’s SMAP hypercable reaches ready for service status, connecting four Australian cities
Tasmania extension will come in 2027

June 25, 2026
Subco activates SMAP subsea cable in Australia
The 5,000km Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth (SMAP) submarine cable is now ready for service, adding more than 400 Tbit/s of IT capacity across the route that links four major Australian cities.

Background info:

August 24, 2023
SUBCO’s New “Super” SMAP Cable Achieves Contract in Force
SUBCO announced today that it is ready to begin construction on a new transcontinental submarine cable that will connect Sydney, Melbourne (Torquay), Adelaide and Perth (S-M-A-P), with the project having officially achieved Contract in Force (CIF) status. Referred to as SMAP, the new 5,000km cable system will be built by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and installed by Optic Marine Systems (OMS Group), and it marks the first stage of construction of HyperOne, Australia’s first national fibre backhaul network.

January 03, 2025
Nokia completes its sale of leading submarine networks business, ASN (Alcatel Submarine Networks), to the French State

February 24, 2025
Australia’s first submarine ‘hypercable’ ready for deployment
Australia’s first submarine “hypercable,” SMAP, is now fully manufactured and ready for ship loading at the ASN factory in Calais, France, marking a major milestone for the country’s digital infrastructure.

Published 2026.06.24
[The Elec, Inc] Ciena Develops 3.2 Tbps Networking Technology for Nvidia's Feynman Platform
Company completes 2-kilometer transmission demonstration as AI data center bandwidth demands accelerate

[...] At the AI Data Center Optical Communications & Interconnect Tech Conference held at Posco Tower Yeoksam in Seoul on June 24, Ciena announced that it had successfully completed a 3.2 Tbps coherent optical transmission demonstration over a distance of 2 kilometers.

Kim Sung-jun, Vice President of Ciena Korea, said the company's 1.6 Tbps products have already entered commercial deployment.

"The 3.2T technology demonstration has also been completed, and we expect commercial products to become available within one to two years," Kim said.

The demonstration utilized 450 Gbps PAM4 technology based on 225 GBaud optical signaling and was conducted jointly with McGill University, HyperLight, and Keysight Technologies. According to the company, the test validated the commercial feasibility of optical transmission technologies beyond current 800G and 1.6T solutions.

The 3.2T technology is primarily targeted at data center interconnect applications. As AI computing workloads continue to expand, single data centers face increasing constraints in power availability and physical space. This has accelerated the emergence of "scale-across" architectures, in which graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters located across multiple sites operate as a unified computing infrastructure.

Nvidia is also pushing for higher networking bandwidth in future platforms. Network connectivity is expected to increase from 800 Gbps in the Blackwell generation to 1.6 Tbps in the upcoming Vera Rubin platform. The subsequent Feynman platform is expected to adopt 3.2 Tbps networking capabilities.

[EDIT]: One of the companies mentioned above is HyperLight, which develops "chiplets" or PICs based on Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN).

Background:
RETN is known to historically use both Infinera ICE6 GX platform & FlexILS line systems and Ciena WaveLogic equipment.

June 24, 2026
RETN adds Kaunas–Białystok route to increase cross-border diversity

London - RETN, the leading independent global network service provider, has expanded its European backbone with a new fiber route between Kaunas and Białystok via Suwałki, strengthening route diversity between the Baltic region and Central Europe.

The route links Kaunas, a major aggregation hub for Baltic traffic, with Białystok, a key eastern Polish network node connecting onward to Warsaw and Western European backbone routes. Passing through Suwałki, it traverses one of the principal terrestrial crossings between Lithuania and Poland and a critical gateway between Baltic networks and the wider EU core.

[...] The new Kaunas–Białystok route further strengthens RETN’s broader Nordic–Baltic infrastructure strategy. Together with RETN’s existing route diversity across Sweden, Finland, the Baltic States and Poland, the expansion increases the number of physically independent routing options available across key segments of the Nordic–Baltic corridor, enhancing resilience and routing flexibility between the Nordics and Central and Western Europe.

Tony O’Sullivan, CEO of RETN said: “This new route adds a totally unique physically independent path between Lithuania and Poland across a key cross-border corridor. It is part of our sustained approach to building multiple independent routing options across the Nordic–Baltic region, particularly in areas where geography naturally concentrates infrastructure. The route increases diversity and provides additional resilience options for traffic traversing the Baltic–Central Europe axis.”

Backbone routes launched earlier this year:

May 7, 2026
RETN Launches New Cross-Romania Backbone Route Connecting Moldova and Ukraine

RETN, the leading independent global network service provider, announces the launch of a new end-to-end backbone route linking Drobeta, Bucharest, Iași and Chișinău. Delivered as a single continuous backbone path, the route provides a new physical connectivity option across Romania and into Moldova, creating an alternative to established regional IP transit corridors in Eastern Europe.

February 17, 2026
RETN Launches New Tallinn–Cēsis Backbone

RETN, the leading independent global network service provider, has launched a new backbone route between Tallinn, Estonia, and Cēsis, Latvia - one that was put to the test almost immediately when a fiber break disrupted the primary path in late 2025.

June 22, 2026
DOCOMO Becomes First in Japan to Deploy Nokia's AI-powered MantaRay AutoPilot for Automated Network Optimization

NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that it has become the first company in Japan to deploy Nokia's MantaRay AutoPilot system, an AI-driven system that automatically optimizes mobile network quality, effective June 19. To accelerate deployment, DOCOMO implemented MantaRay AutoPilot on a public cloud, marking the world's first case of optimizing a commercial mobile network via this system on a public cloud. [...]

Through its deployment of MantaRay AutoPilot, DOCOMO intends to achieve Autonomous Networks Level 4, the level of network autonomy defined by the global industry association TM Forum. At this level, AI can predict network conditions and autonomously manage the network without human intervention.

Recall on May 18th:

"The agreement includes more than 500 individual 400 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) circuits delivered across two geographically diverse routes, providing full path redundancy between Ellendale, ND and Chicago, IL. In total, the network enables 200 terabits of capacity."

June 18, 2026
Nokia, t3 Broadband and Aureon partner to deploy hyperscale-class AI connectivity with ultra-high-capacity optical network

• Nokia and t3 Broadband partner with Aureon to deliver up to 100 Tb/s of AI-ready connectivity in the initial deployment with the ability to scale up to 400 Tb/s.
• New optical route connects a North Dakota data center to the Chicago metro area.

[...] Powered by Nokia's 1830 Global Express (GX) platform, Super C and L-band optical line system, and 1.2T ICE7 coherent optics, the deployment significantly expands Aureon's network capabilities, enabling the company to deliver transport services at a scale traditionally associated with hyperscale operators.

June 16, 2026
Large Shift to ZR+ Optics due to Scale-Across DCI

[...] the market for IP-over-DWDM (IPoDWDM) is forecast to grow at a 27 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for the next five years, surpassing $7 billion by 2030. Deployment of scale-across data center interconnect (DCI) is expected to drive a significant portion of the growth and shift the market toward more ZR+ optical pluggable modules beginning this year.

[...]

Additional highlights from the IPoDWDM and Disaggregated WDM Advanced Research Report:

• Demand for IPoDWDM accelerated in 1Q 2026, driven by stronger demand for 800 ZR+ optics. We estimate IPoDWDM revenue grew over 30 percent year-over-year in the quarter. Cisco Acacia took the top spot in ZR/ZR+ module shipments in the quarter. Marvell had the next highest shipment share.
• ZR/ZR+ optical pluggable module shipments, most of which will be installed on a router and switch, are forecast to have a five-year CAGR of 29 percent.
• The Disaggregated WDM market, which includes IPoDWDM ZR/ZR+, transponder units, and optical line systems, continued to outperform the integrated systems market and grew 50 percent year-over-year in the quarter. Ciena continued to hold the highest market share at approximately 40 percent. The next highest share was held by Nokia.
• Disaggregated WDM is forecast to grow at a five-year CAGR of 17 percent, approaching $13 billion by 2030. This growth is projected to be driven by both cloud providers and communication service providers (CSPs).