Groups Prepare Cable for Activation and Services
February 23, 2011
LONDON – Global communications industry leaders have begun to accept delivery of the first part of the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system. The leaders — the 16 members of the consortium responsible for overseeing the building of the $700 million high-capacity submarine cable system — now can begin to activate their individual portions of the system and offer services that will enhance capacity and diversity from Europe to the Middle East, Africa and India.
EIG Consortium members are accepting delivery of more than 11,300 kilometers of the total 15,000 km EIG cable system, which was announced in 2008, and 11 of the 13 cable landing sites. The accepted cable system routes are: London to Bude, U.K.; Bude to Portugal to Gibraltar to Monaco to Libya; Monaco to Marseille, France; and Saudi Arabia to Djibouti to Oman to United Arab Emirates to India.
The accepted active EIG cable landing sites are: the United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, UAE, India and a terminal site in Marseille, France. The only remaining segment to be completed for the EIG is in Egypt where there are two landing sites.
When fully activated with the Egypt link, the EIG will be the first direct high-bandwidth optical fiber system from the United Kingdom to India. The design capacity on the full system is 3.84 terabits per second (Tbps) using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology to provide upgradeable transmission facilities that support present and future Internet, e-commerce, data, video and voice services.
In addition to complementing existing high-bandwidth cable systems in the region, the EIG will provide much needed diversity for broadband traffic, which currently relies on traditional routes from Europe to India. This diversity is important due to the threat of earthquakes in the region.
The EIG Consortium members are: AT&T; Bharti airtel; BT; Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.; Cable&Wireless Worldwide; Djibouti Telecom; du; Gibtelecom; Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company; MTN Group; Omantel; PT Comunicações, S.A.; Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA Ltd; and Verizon.
The suppliers for the EIG cable system are Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications (TE SubCom).
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