SLT partnered SEA-ME-WE 5 Consortium Completes Matchless Subsea Cable System

March 1, 2017

– Award-winning collaboration bridges 16 countries across 3 continents

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT) and the SEA-ME-WE 5 Consortium proudly announce the completion of the 20,000- kilometre subsea cable infrastructure developed by a 16-nation consortium. This submarine cable system won the Project of the Year – Subsea award at the Global Carrier Awards in Paris in November 2016 for its technological and managerial excellence.

The SEA-ME-WE 5 subsea cable system, spanning over 16 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 low latency applications such as internet of things (IoT), enterprise data exchange, internet TV and online gaming.

The SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable’s advanced 100Gbps technology is expected to meet the quadrupling demand for bandwidth 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 SEA-ME-WE 5’s main endpoints are carrier-neutral/open Points-of-Presence (PoPs) and not just Cable Landing Stations (CLS).

“The completion of the SE-ME-WE 5 project is 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,” noted Linette Lee, Chairperson, SEA-ME-WE 5 Consortium Management Committee. “I would like to thank all the members of the consortium for their unstinting support and commitment towards this project. Together, we collaborated across different time zones and overcame numerous challenges to achieve the complex integration of technologies as promised and on time.”

“The gigantic capacity derived through this new cable system will facilitate the exponential growth in demand for data, both locally and internationally enabling Sri Lanka to leverage on its strategic geographical location. It will definitely accelerate the move towards an inclusive digital economy. SLT’s investment in the cable will help prepare Sri Lanka to take on the envisaged data explosion. I am proud to note that Sri Lanka has been given full landing status by the SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium, which will pave the way to establish a global point of presence in Sri Lanka very soon. This will make the island a ‘preferred destination’ in the region for data centre operations” expressed SLT Group CEO Dileepa Wijesundera.

19 Members of the SEA-ME-WE 5 Consortium:

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, Orange, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel), Sparkle, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT), Telecom Egypt (TE), Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), TeleYemen, Turk Telekom International (TTI) and Trans World Associates (Pvt) Limited Pakistan (TWA).