Synopsis
On March 27, Bharti Airtel announced the successful landing of the 2Africa Pearls cable in India, enhancing international connectivity between India, Africa, and Europe. This cable offers over 100 tbps of capacity, supporting India's digital growth ambitions.Key Takeaways
- Airtel successfully landed the 2Africa Pearls cable in India.
- The cable provides over 100 tbps of international capacity.
- Airtel is diversifying its global network with multiple cable investments.
- 2Africa Pearls is part of the world’s longest subsea cable system.
- India has 17 international subsea cables connected to key landing stations.
New Delhi, March 27 (NationPress) In a significant enhancement to India's digital ambitions, Bharti Airtel announced on Thursday the successful landing of the 2Africa Pearls cable within the country, establishing a connection between India, Africa, and Europe via the Middle East.
The 2Africa Pearls cable offers over 100 tbps (terabits per second) of international capacity to India. This strategic investment allows Airtel to further broaden its global network, aligning with India's digital growth objectives.
“We are excited to introduce the 2Africa Pearls cable to India, enhancing our network's resilience. We are actively diversifying our global network and have recently landed the SEA-WE-ME-6 cable in Chennai and Mumbai,” said Sharat Sinha, Director and CEO of Airtel Business.
“We will persist in our investments in global cable systems to future-proof our network, ensuring high uptime, reliability, and superior quality service for our customers,” he added.
Airtel serves as the landing partner for the 2Africa Pearls cable in India, in collaboration with the 2Africa Pearls investors, center3 and Meta.
The 2Africa Pearls is part of the 2Africa cable system, projected to be the world's longest subsea cable system upon completion, spanning over 45,000 kms and connecting Asia to Africa and Europe through the Middle East.
Airtel's global network encompasses 400,000 Rkms (route kilometers) across 50 countries and five continents.
The company has investments in 34 cables globally, including recent projects like 2Africa, Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2), and Equiano.
In addition to these cables connecting India to vital regions such as APAC, Europe, the Middle East, and the US, Airtel's global subsea network investments include major cable systems like i2i Cable Network (i2icn), Europe India Gateway (EIG), IMEWE, SEA-ME-WE-4, AAG, Unity, EASSy, Gulf Bridge International (GBI), and Middle East North Africa Submarine Cable (MENA Cable), among others.
India already holds a crucial position in the global subsea cable network, housing around 17 international subsea cables linked to 14 landing stations across Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Tuticorin, and Trivandrum.
Indian telecom leaders like Tata Communications, Bharti Airtel, Global Cloud eXchange, and BSNL manage these essential infrastructures.
Recently, Bharti Airtel successfully landed the SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable in Chennai, enhancing its international connectivity.
Global technology leader Meta has also initiated 'Project Waterworth,' a 50,000 km undersea cable project linking India with the US, Brazil, and South Africa, further emphasizing India's growing significance in global digital networks.
