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INDIA: VSNL Begins SAFE Undersea Cable Project
VSNL Begins SAFE Undersea Cable Project
By Uday Lal Pai
India Correspondent, asia.internet.com
[February 15] India's largest ISP, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited
(VSNL), has begun its South Africa Far East (SAFE) undersea fiber
optic cable landing operation at the Kochi (Cochin) landing point in
the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Kochi is the SAFE project's only landing point on the Indian
subcontinent. VSNL, a landing party in the SAFE project, is investing
$50 million in the project, after joining the consortium in June,
1997.
The $600 million SAFE project is a joint venture operation of 42
telecom companies from 35 countries. The 80-gigabit, 28,800-kilometer
undersea cable of will have landing points at Cape Town in South
Africa, Mauritius, St. Paul (Reunion) and Penang, Malaysia.
The land cable from the beachhead to VSNL's international gateway at
Kakkanad in Kochi has already been deployed. The beachhead of the
submarine cable has already been placed and the cable ship will lay
the cable as deep as nine kilometers underwater.
The other end of the cable will be anchored to the sea bottom and
shall be connected to the main cable coming from Mauritius on the
western side and going towards Penang on the eastern side.
A.S. Menon, senior general manager of VSNL, told india.internet.com
that the link up of the Kochi cable to the main cable is expected to
be completed by May and the SAFE project is likely to be commissioned
by the end of the year.
