Reliance Jio Infocomm, a leading Indian telecommunications company, has reportedly announced that it is planning to construct the world’s most expansive international submarine cable network that would by centered on India.

According to reports, the digital and mobile broadband service provider is collaborating with numerous key global partners towards this new initiative. For this, the company has teamed up with SubCom, a leading submarine cable supplier, who is presently laying down two next-gen cables to more effectively support the growing data demand in the region.

The underwater cable network would be divided into two major units, the India-Asia-Xpress system or IAX for short, which would connect India directly to Singapore and other regions. Meanwhile, the other unit, dubbed the India-Europe-Xpress system or IEX for short would connect India to Europe and the Middle East.

Essentially, the IAX system would setup an express connection between Mumbai and Chennai, and ASEAN countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. On the other hand, the IEX system would connect India to European countries like Italy, making landfall in Savona, with two other additional landings in North Africa and the Middle East.

Reliance Jio President, Mathew Oommen, stated that to effectively meet the growing demands of Remote Workforce, Streaming Video, IoT, 5G, and beyond, Reliance is taking a leading role in the development of the first ever, India-oriented IEX and IAX subsea systems.

Oommen added that implementing these key initiatives in the wake of a severe global pandemic is a significant challenge in itself. However, the pandemic has only expedited the digital transformation of industries and intensified the need of a global high-performance connectivity that can deliver of an experience that is much more rich than the existing norm to enterprises as well as consumers.

According to Reliance, the new high-speed, high capacity systems would provide speeds of up to 200Tbps and span over 16,000 kilometers. The network would employ an open system technology as well as the latest of wavelength switched branching/RoADM units that ensure rapid upgrade rollout and flexibility to drop/add waves in multiple locations.

Source credit: https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/telecom/reliance-jio-to-construct-largest-international-submarine-cable-system-connecting-india/story/439279.html