The MIST cable system is on its way – and Orient Link, which provides construction, sales, operations and maintenance for submarine cables, and NEC Corporation, a leading name in the integration of IT and network technologies, have signed an agreement to build it.
MIST (Myanmar/Malaysia India Singapore Transit) will directly connect Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and India (via Mumbai and Chennai) and deliver a design capacity of more than 216 terabits per second (Tbps). Construction of the nearly 8,100-kilometre optical submarine cable is targeted to be completed by the third quarter of financial year 2022.
The partnership points out that the Asia region has experienced accelerated digital investment driven by data centre growth, the proliferation of mobile, 5G services and the business expansion of digital platforms, such as SNS, e-commerce and cloud services for enterprises – all of which have contributed to an increasing amount of data traffic across submarine cables.
MIST will contribute to the expansion of communications networks from Asia, thereby improving network redundancy, ensuring highly reliable communications and expanding onward connectivity options in the Bay of Bengal.
Orient Link (OLL) is a strategic joint venture company led by NTT Group to respond to the growing demands for international data traffic across countries in the South East Asia region. Yoshio Sato, CEO, OLL, says: "Not only will MIST respond to the growing demands for inter-data-centre-connectivity across countries in the Southeast Asia region, but it ultimately allows for OLL to grow its offering and expand into India and beyond.”