e-marine cable ship completes major fiber link between Qatar-UAE

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, Dec 31, 2004

e-marine, the marine subsidiary of Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has announced the successful completion of a submarine cable project that will serve as a prime enabler of Qatar's future growth in telecommunications and higher education.

The new fiber-optic cable will function as the prime connector for future Internet use in Qatar, and will allow for the rapid expansion of major projects such as the recently announced Education City.

The cable is the second submarine voice and data link between the two countries. It will provide sufficient capacity for almost unlimited expansion of Internet usage in Qatar over the 25-year life of the cable.

The project was a joint cooperation between e-marine and Qatar Telecom (Q-Tel), with e-marine the successful bidder on the contract that made it responsible for the necessary marine survey and the actual laying of the cable.

This is one of four projects that e-marine has now recently completed or has underway, including an important new international subsea link--the SEA-ME-WE 4 link, which will run from France, through the Mediterranean and Red Sea to Singapore and Perth, Australia.

e-marine has now laid more than 20,000 kilometers of submarine cables, and has established itself as the leader in the maintenance and laying of submarine cables in the Gulf of Arabia, Red Sea, and western Indian Ocean.