Sri Lanka's National ICT solutions provider, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has completed its partnered project South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-5 (SEA-ME-WE 5 ) undersea submarine cable system.
SLT Monday inaugurated SEA-ME-WE 5 Submarine Cable landing Station in Matara under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. The President opened the new building of SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system in Galle using the digital technology and he also laid the foundation stone for the network station located in Galle.
President Sirisena said the launch of SEA-ME-WE 5 Submarine Cable System with 17 global partners marks a giant leap toward the digital revolution.
Ministers Harin Fernando, Mangala Samaraweera, State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, Deputy Minister Tharanath Basnayake and Southern Province Minister Chandima Rasaputhra and several other ministers, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Telecom Kumarasinghe Sirisena and the Board of Directors were also present on the occasion.
The SEA-ME-WE 5 Submarine Cable System expects to increase its international bandwidth capacity by tenfold for the future requirements of the country as well as the South Asian region.
With this global initiative, SLT will further strengthen its position as the only ICT solutions provider in the country having multiple global connectivity options with a gigantic bandwidth capacity that is adequate to cater to the requirements for more than 25 years ahead.
This futuristic project is in collaboration with the country's vision for the future to empower the ICT super highway, towards becoming the Digital Hub of the region.
The SEA-ME-WE 5 project already completed with the partnership of 19 global operators has designed a future-ready network that capable of delivering, truly largest 48 Tbps (48000 Gbps) Gigantic global bandwidth capacity to Sri Lanka by facilitating both east and west cables through SLT constructed the SMW5 landing station in South Sri Lanka in Matara.
Landing this international cable at Matara will be a key milestone as well as a landmark for the telecom industry of Sri Lanka as well as the whole country. The SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable system will further enhance the uninterrupted connectivity to the world since any redundancies of the existing submarine cable systems (SEA-ME-WE 3 and SEA-ME-WE 4) can be routed through SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system.
The new cable system will enable Sri Lanka to leverage on its strategic marine geographical location in achieving the country's strategic goals. Moreover this global project will have a positive impact on the overall growth of the country's economy.
On the economic front, a high speed broadband environment will encourage higher GDP, enhanced exports, increased productivity, inward migration and modernizing of other sectors. At all micro, small and macro-economic levels, it will reduce transaction costs, increase market coverage and competitiveness and create significant opportunities for job creation and income generation. In addition, it will foster economic growth and development through affordable, reliable and seamless global communications.
This initiative will be one of the key enablers in achieving the move towards an inclusive digital economy and a SMART Sri Lanka.
High bandwidth connectivity to information will further unleash multiple benefits for users in the future including high speed, quality and reliability, superior broadband access, private business networking, interactive entertainment services, voip services, distance learning, backhaul capacity for wholesale business with competitive prices and minimal disruption to services leading towards a significantly enhanced customer experience.
The SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable system, spanning approximately 20,000 km, will offer a POP to POP solution from Singapore, all the way to Europe via France and Italy. It connects 16 countries altogether, serving as the new platform for future business ICTs.
The SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system is designed to provide upgradeable transmission facilities by adopting the latest state-of-the-art 100 Gbps WDM coherent technology. When fully loaded, the SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system would be able to carry 24,000 Giga bits per second (24 Tera bits per second); the equivalent of transmitting around 4800 high-definition movies every second.
SLT will operate and manage South Asia's first state-of-the-art Submarine Cable Depot in Galle port as a Joint Venture, "Galle Submarine Cable Depot Private Limited" (GSCDPL) with IOCPL (Indian Ocean Cableship Pte Limited) which is a ship service provider for SEAIOCMA (South East Asia & Indian Ocean Cable Maintenance Agreement).
IOCPL is a Joint Venture Company of Singtel Singapore and Orange France. Newly formed GSCDPL will be a depot service provider under the SEAIOCMA from 1st of Jan 2018 onwards. SEAIOCMA is the international consortium for maintaining the undersea cables.
Sri Lanka is an important destination where multiple cable systems are already in operation passing the country. Sri Lanka will be the only Submarine Cable Depot in the South Asian region.
SEAIOCMA is an agreement among the telecom submarine cable operators, cable ship operators and cable depot operators for providing submarine cable maintenance spanning in an area between Djibouti in the west, Perth in the South, Guam in the East and the northern tip of Taiwan. Prior to this initiative, Singapore was overlooking the Submarine Cable Depot to facilitate international cable systems. Through this operation in the South Asian region, SLT believes in the possibility of bringing in foreign currency to strengthen the country's economy in the future.
Galle Port has been selected to set up a submarine cable depot by the cable consortium with the participation of a number of countries and Sri Lanka will facilitate the cable maintenance ship berth and warehouse facility.
Source: http://www.colombopage.com/archive_17B/Oct03_1507004352CH.php