South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 5 consortium completes submarine cable system

• Award-winning collaboration bridges 18 countries across 3 continents
• TM owns, leases more than 20 submarine cable systems over 320,000 km

THE consortium of South East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5)  announced last week, the completion of the 20,000 kilometre submarine cable infrastructure, connecting three continents. 

Developed by a consortium comprising telcos from 18 countries namely Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), China Mobile International (CMI), China Telecom Global (CTG), China United Network Communications Group Company Limited (CU), Djibouti Telecom (DT), Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du), Myanmar Post and Telecom (MPT), Ooredoo Oman, Ooredoo Qatar, Orange, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel), Sparkle, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT), Telecom Egypt (TE), TeleYemen, Turk Telekom International (TTI) and Trans World Associates (Pvt) Limited Pakistan (TWA); this submarine cable system was recently recognised with the Project of the Year – Subsea award at the Global Carrier Awards in Paris in November 2016 for its technological and managerial excellence.

Commenting on this achievement, Mohammad Rozaimy Abd. Rahman, executive vice president, Global Wholesale, TM said, “TM is truly proud to be part of this esteemed project and the completion of SEA-ME-WE 5 project marks a major milestone not only for the consortium but for TM as well.”

With Malaysia being one of the landing countries, Rozaimy highlights that the submarine cable system is expected to boost TM’s growth in the international bandwidth, IP Transit, IPVPN, interconnection and backhaul services. “Via SEA-ME-WE 5, TM is committed to deliver higher quality services that will enrich the digital lifestyle of Malaysians, in line with our vision of ‘Making Life and Business Easier, for a Better Malaysia’.”

Meanwhile, Linette Lee, Chairperson of SEA-ME-WE 5 Consortium Management Committee  hailed the completion of the SEA-ME-WE 5 project as a landmark system upgrade for all data users worldwide. “This system facilitates a new age of digital transformation and innovation, catalysing greater economic activities, trade and growth across three continents.”

She commended members of the consortium for their unstinting support and commitment toward this project. Members collaborated across different time zones and overcame numerous challenges to achieve the complex integration of technologies as promised and on time, she noted.

The SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable system, spanning over 18 countries from Southeast Asia to Western Europe, is a technological breakthrough which marks a global communications milestone. It is designed with a capacity of 24 Terabits per second on 3-fibre pairs, fully capable of accommodating the future demand of data from other bandwidth-intensive applications such as enterprise data exchange, internet TV and online gaming.

The SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable’s advanced 100Gbps technology is anticipated to meet the quadrupling of bandwidth demand between Europe and Asia, providing the lowest latency and further enhancing the network diversity and resilience to the heavily loaded Asia to Europe route. In contrast with other submarine cable systems, the main endpoints of SEA-ME-WE 5 are carrier-neutral Points-of-Presence (PoPs) and not just Cable Landing Stations (CLS).

The cable system, which has started carrying traffic, will provide seamless end to end connectivity with the capability of originating or terminating traffic from the PoPs in Singapore and Europe (France and Italy). This cable system shall also provide TM with network diversity to Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) and SEA-ME-WE 4 (SMW4) cable systems connecting the Middle-East and Europe.

With more than 20 submarine cable systems owned and leased spanning more than 320,000 fibre-route kilometres around the globe, TM provides connectivity via several routes across the Asia-Pacific and the North American regions. Leveraging on its extensive global connectivity, network infrastructure and collective expertise, TM also operates 24 strategic international Points-of-Presence (PoPs) located across 18 countries worldwide.

TM is a member of the various submarine cable systems consortiums in the region, which include Asia America Gateway Cable Network (AAG), South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe Cable System 3 (SEA-ME-WE3 – SMW3), SEA-ME-WE4 (SMW4),  Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2), Batam-Rengit Cable System (BRIGHT), Batam-Dumai-Melaka Cable System (BDM), Dumai-Melaka Cable System (DMCS), Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG), the latest; Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) and TM’s very own Cahaya Malaysia.  TM also invests in other cable systems such as Japan – US Cable Network (JUSCN) and South Atlantic 3 / Western Africa Submarine Cable / South Africa Far East (SAT-3/WASC/SAFE).

For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.