Work has started on the installation of a 19,200km deep-sea cable system connecting 12 countries between Singapore and France.
Known as the Southeast Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6), the cable is the latest in a series of fibre-optic links to be laid between Southeast Asia and Europe.
Each addition to the cable system adds fibre pairs, which equates to higher carrying capacity.
The latest version will have 24 pairs and be able to convey 100Tb of data per second, compared with 38Tb/s for its predecessor.
The system is divided into three segments: an undersea stretch between from Tuas in Singapore to Ras Ghareb in Egypt, an overland section to Port Said in Egypt, and an undersea segment to Marseilles.
The cable, which is being delivered by New-Jersey-based SubCom, is due to be completed by the first quarter of 2025.
The project is being organised by a consortium made up of telecoms companies located along the route, including those based in Singapore, India, Egypt and France.
Yue Meng Fai, chair of the SEA-ME-WE 6 management committee and director at Singtel, said: “This new cable system will help all parties provide faster broadband access to users along this multi-regional data superhighway while supporting surges from changing working and consumption habits, from 5G, remote working needs and video streaming demands, among others.”
Image: Vismar UK/Shutterstock
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