VSNL in SEA-ME-WE 4 cable project

NEW DELHI: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) together with a consortium of 15 other International telcos has signed the Construction and Maintenance Agreement of the new submarine cable system (SEA-ME-WE 4 Cable system) on March 27, 2004 in Dubai.

The system spans some 20,000 km. across the world, landing in more than 10 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.

This SEA-ME-WE 4 cable system is the fourth in the series of the Sea-Me-We cable systems and its construction is expected to be completed over a period of 16 months. The total cost of the cable is $ 500 million.

"The construction of this cable system is an obvious testimony to the growing demand for bandwidth in the regions. Many developing markets are expected to see strong growth in the short term as the economy recovers and the continuing efforts to embrace the broadband technologies and expansion infrastructure.

The SEA-ME-WE 4 cable system will be a timely response to bandwidth demands as previous SEA-ME-WE cable systems approaches their maximum design capacity," said VP (operations) of VSNL KP Tiwari. "Additionally, the SEA-ME-WE 4 system is built at a much lower cost today as compared with previous systems. This should translate into very favorable situations which both the consumer and corporate markets will highly welcome," he added.

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