The growth of new services and applications in the Far East, Middle East, and the Indian sub-continent will receive support in the form of a new 100Gbps submarine cable system to be deployed by a consortium of telecoms giants.
The consortium, consisting of Alcatel-Lucent, Vodafone Group, Dialog Axiata, Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), Reliance Jio Infocomm, Omantel and Telekom Malaysia, will build the Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) cable system to connect Oman, the United Arab Emirates, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The value of the contract has not been disclosed.
The BBG is to strengthen and enhance the reliability of connectivity into and out of the countries via landing points in Singapore; Penang, Malaysia; Ratmalana, Sri Lanka; Barka, Oman; Fujairah, United Arab Emirates; and Mumbai and Chennai in India.
Commercial operation of the system is expected to begin by the end of next year. It is expected to offer an ultra high-design capacity to accommodate the growth of services and applications in the countries linked by the BBG.
Edward West, chairman of the BBG Interim Procurement Group, said the BBG will be a step change in capacity on its route.
“This system will be able to address the fast-evolving expectations of our customers in line with their demands,” West said.
Connectivity image via Shutterstock
