Bharti Airtel partners with 15 global telecom majors to build Europe India Gateway (EIG), a cable system from India to United Kingdom
• The more than US$ 700 million cable system to be 15,000 km and to connect 13 countries across three continents
May 7, 2008: Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecom services provider, along with fifteen other global telecommunications majors, today signed a formal construction and maintenance agreement in London to build the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system. The first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable system from India to United Kingdom will cost more than US$ 700 million and significantly enhance capacity and diversity to connect India to the Middle East and Europe. The 15,000-kilometer (9,000-mile)
Airtel is the only Indian service provider to be a part of this consortium, and will be operating the cable landing station in Mumbai. The other members of the EIG cable consortium include AT&T, BT, C&W, Djibouti Telecom, Du, Gibtelecom, IAM, Libyan Telecom, MTN Group Ltd., Omantel, PT Comunicações-
According to David Nishball, President, Enterprise Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd., “There is a tremendous rise in use of data and broadband applications among enterprises and consumers globally, and India is no exception. Whether it is large enterprises leveraging communications technologies to compete in a truly global environment or consumers seeking real-time entertainment over the internet, international connectivity has become a vital part of our lives.” He added, “As a leading telecommunications provider, we are committed to addressing this demand and providing reliable and resilient global networking solutions for our customers.”
Beyond the Airtel cable landing station in India, additional cable landings will be provided in United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and United Arab Emirates. The EIG cable system will also provide seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
In addition to complementing existing high bandwidth cable systems in the region, the EIG cable system will provide much needed diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India. The EIG cable system, with its large bandwidth and high quality transmission technology, will help meet the present and future growth in telecommunications traffic between the targeted regions. This will compliment Airtel’s existing high bandwidth cable systems and its recent investments in the I-ME-WE, Unity Cable system and Asia America Gateway cable systems. The company currently has two international landing stations in Chennai that connect its two existing submarine cable systems - i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe, and is building an additional cable landing station in Mumbai to land the SEA-ME-WE-4 cable.
