The 16-nation SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium has announced it has completed construction of the 20,000km subsea cable system spanning Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
The cable system connects Singapore with Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Oman, the UAR, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, Turkey, Italy and France.
SEA-ME-WE 5 has a design capacity of 24Tbps over three-fibre pairs and uses advanced 100Gbps technology in anticipation of the quadrupling of bandwidth demand between Europe and Asia. The cable's main endpoints in Singapore, Palermo Italy and Marseilles France are are carrier neutral points of presence.
“The completion of the SE-ME-WE 5 project is a landmark system upgrade for all data users worldwide,” SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium management committee chairperson Linette Lee said.
“This system facilitates a new age of digital transformation and innovation, catalysing greater economic activities, trade and growth across three continents.”
APAC SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium members include Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited, China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, China United Network Communications Group, Myanmar Post and Telecom (MPT), Telin, Singtel, Sri Lanka Telecom, Telekom Malaysia and Trans World Associates Pakistan.
The other consortium members are Djibouti Telecom, du, Ooredoo, Orange, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), TI Sparkle, Telecom Egypt, TeleYemen and Turk Telekom International.