SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable backers announce landings

The deployment of the SEA-ME-WE 5 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5) submarine cable, which its backers expect will become operational in the second half of this year, is making progress with the recent announcements of a pair of landings.

Orange has announced a landing at la Seyne-sur-Mer in the south of France. Djibouti Telecom, meanwhile, has announce completion of landing work in Haramous.

The 20,000 km-long undersea cable system will run from France to Singapore, serving 17 countries: Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, France, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Djibouti , Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Yemen. Orange Group subsidiary Orange Marine is managing the installation of the submarine network in the Mediterranean, where it is expected to land in France, Egypt, Italy, and Turkey.

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (now a subsidiary of Nokia) and NEC share responsibility for the actual deployment work (see "SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium issues construction contracts").

The submarine fiber-optic network will support 100-Gbps wavelengths with a total system capacity of 24 Tbps over three fiber pairs.

In addition to Orange and Djibouti Telecom, SEA-ME-WE-5's backers include Bangladesh Submarine Cable Co. Ltd., (BSCCL), China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, China United Network Communications Group Co., Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. (PJSC), Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, Saudi Telecom Co., SingTel, Sri Lanka Telecom, TOT, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, and Yemen International Telecommunications (TeleYemen).

A consortium of three banks – the French Development Agency (AFD), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the Djibouti BCI–BRED – have provided the necessary funding.

Orange says it will connect SEA-ME-WE-5 through the cable landing station at la Seyne-sur-Mer to the Interxion Data Center in Marseille (MRS1).

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