The consortium behind the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) subsea cable system has announced the launch of the new cable, with services commencing from Europe to far east Asia.
The 40Tbps, five fiber pair cable system is the first cable to link all major Asian, African, Middle Eastern and European regions, combining both subsea and terrestrial routes.
It spans 19 nations and territories - Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France.
The AAE-1 provides termination with Telecom House in Hong Kong and Equinix and Global Switch in Singapore, as well as three termination options in Europe.
The system has been designed from the outset with 100Gbps technology and is upgradeable in the future to meet growing demand. The consortium said the AAE-1 is the largest subsea cable system to launch in more than a decade.
Members of the AAE-1 consortium include China Unicom, CIL, Djibouti Telecom, Etisalat, GT5L, Mobily, Omantel, Ooredoo, OTEG, PCCW, PTCL, Reliance Jio, Retelit, Telecom Egypt, TeleYemen, TOT, Viettel, VNPT and VTC