Telecomms companies sign Europe India Gateway cable system agreement

Telecomworldwire, May 7, 2008

TELECOMWORLDWIRE-7 May 2008-Telecomms companies sign Europe India Gateway cable system agreement(C)1994-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

A construction and maintenance agreement (C&MA) to build the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fibre submarine cable system from the UK to India, has been signed by 16 telecomms companies.

Verizon Business (Verizon), a provider of advanced communications and IT solutions and a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), said the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system will cost over USD700m and will significantly enhance capacity and diversity between the countries of these regions.

The companies investing in the project are: AT&T; Bharti Airtel; BT; Cable &Wireless; Djibouti Telecom; Du; Gibtelecom; IAM; Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company; MTN Group Ltd; Omantel; PT Comunicacoes, S.A.; Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA Ltd; and Verizon Business.

According to Verizon, the EIG is a 15,000km system connecting three continents, with 13 landings planned in the UK, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates and India. It is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2010 and will also provide interconnection with other main cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.

The system will reportedly use next-generation technology designed to provide up to 3.84Tb/s using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) to provide upgradeable transmission facilities supporting Internet, e-commerce, video, data and voice services.

The EIG cable system will also provide diversity for broadband traffic which currently relies mostly on traditional routes from Europe to India and will help meet present and future telecomms traffic growth. The EIG Consortium has also signed a supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications for the cable system's construction.

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