Reliance Jio To Construct Submarine Cable System: Here's Why

Reliance Jio has announced that it is building the largest submarine cable system in India. The telecom operator is working with several global companies and submarine supplier SubCom to deploy the cables. This partnership is expected to help Reliance Jio fulfill the growing data demand.

"To meet the demands of Streaming Video, Remote Workforce, 5G, IoT, and beyond, Jio is taking a leadership role in the construction of the first of its kind, India-centric IAX, and IEX subsea systems," said Mathew Oommen, President, Reliance Jio.

What Will IEX And IAX Submarine Cables Do?

The telecom operator states that India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) system will link India to connect to Singapore, whereas another system called India-Europe-Xpress (IEX) will Link India to Europe and the Middle East.

In addition, the company said that the IAX system will connect Mumbai and Chennai to Malaysia, Thailand, and Thailand. Besides, the company plans to extend the IEX system to Italy, Middle East, and North Africa.

"This high capacity and the high-speed system will provide more than 200Tbps of capacity spanning over 16,000 kilometers. Employing open system technology and the latest wavelength switched RoADM/branching units ensures rapid upgrade deployment and the ultimate flexibility to add/drop waves across multiple locations," Jio said.

Apart from the connectivity to these areas, both IAX and IEX sub-sea systems are expected to connect Reliance Jio global network to the east and west coast of the United States. Furthermore, IAX is likely to be ready in the middle of 2023, whereas IEX is expected to start services by the first half of 2024.

Reliance Jio is not the only telecom operator that is moving towards this segment, earlier, Airtel joined hands with Telecom Egypt to get Indefeasible Right of Use in the Middle East. The partnership will help Airtel to use MENA Cable and Fibre pairs from Egypt.

It is worth noting that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has increased data consumption, which is why we believe that Reliance Jio is planning to build the submarine cable system. Besides, we believe that both cables will allow Jio users to access content and cloud services in other locations too.