Orient Link, NEC to construct a 8,100-kilometer long optical submarine cable connecting India with other Asian countries

The Asia region has experienced accelerated digital investment driven by data center growth, the proliferation of mobile, 5G services, and business expansion of digital platforms, such as SNS, e-commerce, and cloud services for enterprises.

These advancements have contributed to an increasing amount of data traffic across submarine cables.

And this demand surge has made Orient Link Pte. Ltd. (OLL) and NEC Corporation ink an agreement to build the MIST Cable System (MIST).

MIST will directly connect Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and India (Mumbai and Chennai) and deliver a design capacity of more than 216 terabits per second (Tbps).

Both companies anticipate completing the construction of the nearly 8,100-kilometer optical submarine cable by the third quarter of FY 2022.

The companies are confident that MIST will further enhance and contribute to the much-needed expansion of communications networks from Asia, which would in turn improve the network redundancy, ensuring highly reliable communications and expanding onward connectivity options in the Bay of Bengal.

It was just last week that NEC Technologies India shared the success of the company's completion of a major part of the Chennai-Andaman undersea cable project. NEC, teamed with BSNL, is a part of the first-ever 2,312-kilometer undersea optical fiber cable project for Island connectivity in India.

Connecting Chennai and seven islands of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, this project brings high-speed broadband connectivity in the union territory to boost tourism and generate new employment in the Islands. This will lead to an increase in the standard of living and will further result in augmenting the economy of the Islands.

Sharing an opinion on the collaboration with NEC and opportunities in Asia, Yoshio Sato, CEO, OLL said that globally, India and Southeast Asia are among the world’s fastest-growing economies. "I am very pleased to announce the launch of MIST, providing a truly connected India to our clients around the world, delivering high-quality, low-latency networks to the people in India as the nation charges forward with its digital transformation roadmap. Not only will MIST respond to the growing demands for inter-DC-connectivity across countries in the Southeast Asia region, but it ultimately allows for OLL to grow its offering and expand into India and beyond. OLL has selected NEC as a supply partner whose extensive experience in expeditiously implementing submarine cable systems will play a key role in our project’s success.”

"We are honored to be selected as the supplier for MIST together with our local affiliate in India (NEC Technologies India Private Ltd (NECTI)). In recent years, we have been supplying the majority of submarine cables in the region and this project enables NEC to continue contributing to advanced infrastructure for serving growing traffic demands," said Atsushi Kuwahara, General Manager, Submarine Network Division, NEC. "Together with NECTI, we intend to fully capitalize on our regional expertise in Southeast Asia and India to ensure the successful completion of this project."