Singapore telco Singtel with co has commenced an Asia-Europe submarine cable system connecting countries from Singapore to France. Spanning Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Maldives, India, Pakistan, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, it will run 19,200 km in length.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) said the transcontinental fiber cable system will be ready by 2025 Q1.

Further, the lengthy fiber cable project is branded the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6). This mega-scale fiber optics solution will offer the lowest latencies between the regions at 100 terabytes of bandwidth speed. That is equal to the bandwidth of 40,000 High Definition videos per second.

Singtel exec and consortium chair Yue Meng Fai said the project follows 2 years of analysis and work. He says the system will address the growing demand for better connectivity and aid global digitalization. He elaborated that more people today are working remotely and they need faster broadband. The SEA-ME-WE 6 system will cater to alleviate broadband shortcomings with this cross-continental data superhighway.

Also read: Recent Slow Internet Due to Submarine Cables Failure

Fai also added that the submarine cable will fulfill our increased internet consumption like work from home, video streaming, etc.

Singtel noted that the project will allow service providers in the consortium to scale up their capacity. In the meantime, it will also help them protect traffic from defects and lower their cost of network ownership.

Submarine cable forms the core of international broadband connectivity. Any mishap or occurrence to it causes a blackout or sends ripple effects to the surrounding region. Having a large consortium co-run a submarine project will help all reap the benefits of faster broadband access at a low cost.

Nepal Seeking Independant Fiber Connection to the Sea

Meanwhile, the Nepal government has also announced its plan to connect with an international fiber link soon. The regulator is undergoing homework to coordinate with India for it. So far Nepali broadband providers buy their bandwidth from Tata and Airtel. Having its own link to the international network would alleviate the higher cost and disrupt reliance on Indian upstream providers.

Don’t miss: Nepal’s Internet Bandwidth Touches 1 Tbps Mark

What is your idea on the Singtel-led Asia-Europe Submarine Cable system? Should Nepal also speed up creating its linkage to the undersea fiber link? Do leave your comments below.