Sixteen Telcos to Build Submarine Cable System to Link India and U.K.
The new cable will connect three continents, with 13 landings in India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
The project is one of the several major India-Europe cable projects recently announced, driven by carriers' desire to capture the rapid growth of voice and data traffic between India, Europe, and the Middle East.
The new cable will provide higher capacity and diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India.
The 15,000km cable network system, named the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system, will connect three continents at a cost of more than US$700 million. Thirteen landings are planned in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and India. The system will utilise state-of the-art next-generation technology which is designed to provide up to 3.84 terabits per second using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) to provide upgradeable transmission facilities which support internet, e-commerce, video, data, and voice services. The system is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2010.
Sixteen telecommunications companies are investing in the project: AT&T, Bharti Airtel, BT, Cable & Wireless, Djibouti Telecom; du; Gibtelecom; IAM; Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company; MTN; Omantel; PT Comunicacoes, Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA; and Verizon Business. In addition to the C&MA, the EIG consortium also signed a supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications for the cable system's construction.
