The Hindu : Business : VSNL starts undersea cable laying work

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 16, 2004

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Business

VSNL starts undersea cable laying work

By Shanthi Kannan

CHENNAI, MAY 15. The Tata-controlled Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited has started working on laying 3175 km of undersea cable (Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System) in the Indian seabed today. The cable will be laid between Chennai and Singapore and will have a bandwidth capacity of 5.12 terabits. In the first phase, as much as 320 gigabits of bandwidth capacity will be made available, according to N. Srinath, Director (Operations) VSNL.

Addressing a press conference on board CS Tyco Durable, Tyco Telecommunications' cable ship, Mr. Srinath said Tyco Telecommunications, a leading provider of undersea fibre optic systems, was the turnkey supply contractor for VSNL's project. The cable ship, which also builds the cable, would depart Chennai port today. With the laying of undersea cable, the Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System planned to cater to the exponential increase in the international bandwidth demand in the country. VSNL's objective has been to provide robust end-to-end connectivity to its enterprise and broadband customers.

Mr. Srinath said the project was expected to become commercially operative in the fourth quarter of this financial year. He refused to comment on the cost of the project. He, however, said that VSNL's project would be built at a lower cost than i21, the Bharti-Singtel joint venture cable that also connected Chennai and Singapore. The Bharti-Singtel venture had invested around $250 million on the 8-terabit undersea cable, which was already operational.

VSNL is also part of various consortia for undersea cables, which touch India. These include the SeaMe3 cable on the Indo Europe route, and the SeaMe We4cable, which will become operational in 2005, and that of SAFE, which connects India and Africa and then Europe.

VSNL is in the process of expanding its global presence and is setting up operations in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Europe and the U.S. Tyco Durable is one of six new cable ships in the Tyco Telecommunications cable ship fleet, states Rob Munier, Managing Director of Global Systems Sales at Tyco Telecommunications. The unique design of the cable ships was a direct result of Tyco Telecommunications' five decades of marine installation and maintenance experience.

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