The Hindu Business Line : 17 cos join hands to build Asia-America gateway

Bangalore April 30 Bharti Airtel will participate in building Asia-America Gateway — the first submarine-cable system linking South-East Asia directly to the US.

The cable project is spearheaded by 17 telecommunications companies namely, AiTi, AT&T, BayanTel, Bharti, BT Global Network Services, CAT Telecom, ETPI, Maxis, PCP Company Ltd, PLDT, Saigon Postal Corporation, StarHub, Telekom Malaysia, Telstra, TNZL, Viettel and VNPT. It will be built at a cost of about $560 million.

Cable system

The AAG cable system is designed to provide 1.92 Tbps using the field-proven Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology to provide upgradeable, future proof transmission facilities that support Internet and e-commerce.

Considering recent earthquakes that took out almost all cable systems in the region, this is expected to provide diversity against traditional routes to the US, mainly carrying broadband traffic.

Global footprint

"This investment is in line with our strategy to extend our international footprint and focus on connecting our customers in India to Asia and the Americas," Mr David Nishball, President, Enterprise Services, Airtel, in a release issued by the company.

"While our existing i2i and SeMeWe4 cable systems already provide connectivity across the globe, the AAG cable system will help offer increased redundancy and resilient networks.

"It will also meet the increasing demands of the voice, private data and Internet traffic," Mr Nishball added.