Airtel Expands Global Network with SEA-ME-WE 6 Submarine Cable:Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), one of India's leading telecom service providers, has taken a significant step in strengthening India’s international connectivity with the successful landing of the SEA-ME-WE 6 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-West Europe 6) submarine cable in Chennai. The first landing in India was completed in Mumbai on December 30, 2024, and now with the Chennai landing, Airtel has secured multiple entry points to ensure enhanced network resilience.
What is the SEA-ME-WE 6 Submarine Cable?
This advanced subsea fiber optic cable system spans 21,700 Rkm, linking India to Singapore and France (Marseille), passing through Egypt. It is a crucial part of global internet infrastructure, enabling high-speed, low-latency connectivity between key regions. The engineering, manufacturing, and installation were handled by SubCom, a leading supplier of subsea cable data systems.
Airtel’s Vision for Global Connectivity
Sharat Sinha, Director & CEO of Airtel Business, highlighted the significance of this milestone:
“At Airtel, we strive to provide best-in-class services to our customers, and this new investment will further improve our secure, diverse, and scalable global network. We are delighted to strengthen global connectivity by landing one of the largest cable systems into our facilities. This complements our existing network strength of 400,000 Rkms across 50 countries. It also underscores our commitment to Digital India’s growing demand for global connectivity & data with additional routes, diversity, and capacity.”
How SEA-ME-WE 6 Benefits India?
✅ Massive Capacity Boost: The cable will provide 220 TBPs (Terabits per second) of global capacity to India.
✅ Enhanced Connectivity: Strengthens India’s links to APAC, Europe, and the Middle East.
✅ Lower Latency & Better Speeds: Helps businesses, hyperscalers, and data centers access international networks more efficiently.
✅ Data Center Integration: Seamless integration with Nxtra by Airtel data centers in Mumbai and Chennai.
Airtel’s Investment in Global Subsea Cables
Airtel has played a key role in the SEA-ME-WE 6 consortium by investing in the core cable infrastructure and co-building a private network of four fiber pairs between Singapore, Chennai, and Mumbai.
Airtel’s global network spans five continents and includes over 34 cables worldwide. Some of its major subsea investments include:
- 2Africa
- Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2)
- Equiano
- i2i Cable Network (i2icn)
- Europe India Gateway (EIG)
- IMEWE
- SEA-ME-WE-4
- AAG
- Unity
- EASSy
- Gulf Bridge International (GBI)
- Middle East North Africa Submarine Cable (MENA Cable)
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