Sixteen Telcos to Build Submarine Cable System to Link India and U.K.

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.

Outlook and Implications

The EIG cable system, with its large bandwidth and high-quality transmission technology, will help meet the rapid growth in voice and data traffic between the targeted regions. The system will also provide interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. Growing broadband penetration in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and the internationalisation of the internet and multimedia, calls for greater international capacity between continents. Corporate globalisation is also driving demand, not only for raw capacity, but also for the data services enabled by multi-terabit networks, such as Ethernet, IPLC, and VPN. The new cable system will also provide diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India. Earlier this year, the international internet connections between the Gulf region, South Asia, and Europe were severely interrupted; this was caused by the damage to three trans-continental undersea cables (FLAG Europe-Asia and SEA-ME-WE 4 were cut near Egypt in late January and a third undersea cable, FALCON, was broken between Dubai and Oman a week later) (see Middle East and North Africa: 4 February 2008: MENA Data Traffic Re-Routed as Submarine Cable Damage Is Investigated).

The EIG cable system is one of the several Indo-European cable projects recently announced by major telcos. A consortium of nine telecoms operators, including Bharti Airtel and France Telecom, are building a submarine cable, named I-ME-WE, which stretches from India to France via the Middle East. Indian telecoms company VSNL is building the TGN Eurasia cable system, connecting India with Europe in partnership with Telecom Egypt and U.S.-based private-equity venture, SEACOM. India-based Reliance Communications is undertaking the FLAG NGN cable project, consisting of the deployment of four new cable systems in the Mediterranean, East Africa, Asia and the Pacific, which are aimed at providing seamless connections among continents upon full completion.