India's Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of the Europe-India Gateway (EIG) cable system along with 16 other telcos.
The 15,000km long cable has received $700 million in funding, and is expected to improve capacity between Europe and India. Bharti will provide network administration and operations control for the EIG.
The EIG’s carrying capacity is tagged at 3.84 terabits per second and stretches from Mumbai to London, with landing points in the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Monaco, Marseilles, Gibraltar, Portugal and the UK. The cable system is commercially operable with the exception of the Egypt segment.
The cable’s launch will boost the African content’s connectivity demands by complementing the Eastern African submarine cable system (EASSy), the largest undersea cable in Africa, in which Bharti also holds investments.
Bharti has vested interest in the African telco market, having acquired the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain in a $10.7 billion deal last year.