Airtel to start Indo-China cable this week
If sources are to be believed, Bharti Airtel will open its first underground terrestrial fibre optic cable built in alliance with China Telecom this week, this cable will allow faster internet connectivity for consumers in the two fastest growing telecom markets in the world.
The direct terrestrial link between India and China, which took two years to build over a hostile terrain, will have an initial capacity of 40 Gbps going up to nearly 1 Tbps. This will offer an alternate and short route for data traffic alongside two existing undersea cables exiting from Chennai and Mumbai and will bring faster connectivity for Indian and Chinese internet customers, especially in the border areas.
According to Ajay Chitkara, Chief Executive officer of global data business at Bharti Airtel, currently in terms of traffic (between India and China), it is very low. But the Chinese internet market is growing very fast.
The new network will address surging web traffic emerging from China and will be largely focused on enterprise businesses. It will connect India and China to the US and Europe.
Bharti Airtel and China Telecom have constructed the network in their own territories from Siliguri to Nathula border in India and Nathula border to Yadong in China. In India, the high-speed network spans from Siliguri gateway to Nathula via Pedong on one path and the second path will reach Siliguri from Nathula via Gangtok forming a ring.
Bharti Airtel has invested more than $500 million in creating the two sub-seas and the new subterranean network.
It has also signed an agreement with China Telecom to create an interconnected network where data, voice or internet traffic will be handed over from one player to another.
Chitkara added that the MoU for China Telecom handing over traffic to Bharti Airtel has been signed and a similar agreement for handing over our traffic to them will be signed within a few days. Department of telecom has already given Bharti Airtel security clearances for the project.
