NWC News Network, May 07 2008, 1730 hrs
Major leaders of the global telecommunications industry signed a formal construction and maintenance agreement (C&MA) to build the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable system linking the United Kingdom to India. Labeled as the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system, this will significantly enhance capacity and diversity between the two countries.
The EIG cable system is a 15,000 kilometer (9,000 mile) system that will connect 13 countries and three continents. Landings are planned in the UK, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, UAE, and India. It will also provide seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. Leading telecommunications companies investing in the project are AT&T, Bharti Airtel, BT, C&W, with the support of MTN Group, Omantel, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt, and Verizon Business.
The system will utilize a state-of-art next generation technology that is designed to provide a bandwidth of upto 2.88 terabits (Tbps) using dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) to provide upgradeable transmission facilities that support Internet, e-commerce, video, data and voice. The cable system will cost close to US $700 million is targeted to be operational in second quarter of 2010. The Consortium has also signed a supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications for the construction of the cable system.
In addition to complementing existing high bandwidth cable systems in the region, the cable system will provide much needed diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India. This is important considering the threat of earthquakes in this region. The cable system, with its large bandwidth and high quality transmission technology, will help meet the present and future growth in telecommunications traffic between the targeted regions.
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