Aldea Solutions Inc., a leading global service provider for the television and media industries, and Sparkle, the international service arm of TIM Group and amongst the top 10 global operators, announced yesterday at ITW (International Telecoms Week) 2017 a partnership to extend media services in the EMEA region.

As a result of this partnership, media companies in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa regions will benefit from Aldea’s comprehensive portfolio of services for the transmission, distribution and management of video content and from Sparkle’s extensive fiber network.

Aldea is best known for its deep rooted experience delivering high quality, ultra-low latency and reliable video services for the transmission of live sports, news and other media events over fiber networks. Aldea’s expertise in the delivery of managed video solutions has been demonstrated repeatedly in major global events such as the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.

Sparkle owns and operates one of the largest and most technologically advanced global fiber networks spanning 560,000 km. Through its open ecosystem and rich marketplace Sicily Hub, located in Palermo, Sparkle provides customers located in Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East with the lowest latency compared to any other European peering point.

As a result of this agreement, Aldea will extend its video service capabilities into these new regions and provide customers direct access to Aldea’s existing video network in 20 countries in the Americas and Western Europe. Together, Aldea and Sparkle will provide support for all the latest video formats, encoding standards, as well as streaming and distribution to multichannel integrated platforms (DTT, DTH, and OTT).

"We are enthusiastic about this new partnership with Sparkle, as we believe it will not only provide material gains to our customers but also allow Aldea to continue to extend its world-class media solutions to new parts of the world in tandem with the great assets and know-how brought forth by Sparkle", says Lionel Bentolila, CEO at Aldea.

"We look forward to the results of our collaboration with Aldea as this partnership will greatly benefit our customers requiring global solutions, making our Sicily hub in Palermo the premier platform in the region for the exchange of global media", says Alessandro Talotta, Chairman & CEO at Sparkle.