Orange launches new submarine cable project

Orange is splashing the cash on building a high-speed submarine cable connecting Europe to Asia by the end of 2016.

It has signed a construction and maintenance agreement for the Sea-Me-We 5 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5) project, which will design and construct a 20,000km fiber optic cable.

The cable based on the latest 100Gbps very high speed technology and which will initially offer a capacity of 24 Tbps will connect a range of countries including France, Singapore. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Yemen, Egypt and Italy.

Orange, which will co-finance the project as part of an international consortium, said the principal aim will be reinforcing its presence on the Asia-Europe network route.

It wants to secure the route and its extra capacity for internet traffic as demand from its customers increases.

Orange is already co-owner of three other submarine cables that run between Asia and Europe: Sea-Me-We 3, Sea-Me-We 4 and IMeWe, which were launched in 1999, 2005 and 2010 respectively. 

Orange said the Sea-Me-We 5 cable will offer it an alternative route that “guarantees the protection of voice and data traffic passing through the other cables in the area”.

As a result of the inter-connection point in Djibouti, Orange will now be able, it claims, to open up a new route towards the Indian Ocean to support the booming growth of broadband services in the islands of Reunion and Mayotte.

The Sea-Me-We 5 cable will use a Point of Presence located in the Group’s telecommunications network group in Marseilles with the connection established via a terrestrial cable running from the landing station, which is located in the Var department. 

The cable has an advanced Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) system that enables cable capacity to be increased without additional submarine work.

“By diversifying points of access, this cable will further secure access to international broadband networks and will facilitate access to networks in France for Asian and African operators,” Orange said. “This confirms our position as a leading player in the submarine cable market.”

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