Airtel today announced that it has joined the SEA-ME-WE-6 undersea cable consortium to scale up its high speed global network capacity to serve India’s fast-growing digital economy. The 19,200 Rkm SEA-ME-WE-6 will connect Singapore and France, and will be amongst the largest undersea cable systems globally, said the company.
Airtel said that it will be a major investor in the SEA-ME-WE-6 and will be anchoring 20% of the overall investment in the cable system, which will go live in 2025. The 12 other consortium members of SEA-ME-WE-6 include Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Dhiraagu (Maldives), Djibouti Telecom, Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Orange (France), Singtel (Singapore), Sri Lanka Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telekom Malaysia, Telin (Indonesia).
Through SEA-ME-WE-6 Airtel will add a significant amount of 100 TBps capacity to its global network. Airtel said that it has acquired one Fiber Pair on the main SEA-ME-WE-6 system and will co-build four Fiber Pairs between Singapore – Chennai – Mumbai as part of the cable system. Airtel will land the SEA-ME-WE-6 cable system in India at new landing stations in Mumbai and Chennai.
SEA-ME-WE-6 will be fully integrated with Nxtra by Airtel’s large Data Centers in Mumbai and Chennai to enable global hyperscalers and businesses to access seamless integrated solutions and will strengthen India’s position as an emerging data center hub in the region.
Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business said:
Undersea cable systems along with data centers are vital infrastructure for supporting 5G and the digital economy. Airtel has been ahead of the curve on this front and already operates the largest undersea cable network out of India in addition to the biggest network of data centers. Our investment in SEA-ME-WE-6 is another step in our journey to future-proof our network and build large integrated capacities to enable India’s digital ecosystem.