As of now, Tata Communications was the only provider of the undersea cable system for India. But not anymore.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has now launched world’s longest 100 Gbps submarine, undersea cable system, which is stretching under 25,000 kms under the ocean.
Termed as the Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1), this massive cable system runs from Marseille, Paris to Hong Kong, via several landing points spread across Asia and Europe.
This undersea cable system will now connect India with 100 Gbps direct connectivity and will deliver 40 Terabits to this region.
Passing via Europe, Middle East and Asia, AAE-1 will have Points of Presence (interface points) in Hong Kong and Singapore, and onward connectivity option in Europe via France, Italy, and Greece. In India, the landing point would be Mumbai.
Besides, AAE-1 has been designed so as to link with other undersea cable systems as well, as and when required. However, it is not clear whether AAE-1 will sync with Tata Communication’s undersea cable system or not.
Jio President Mathew Oommen said, “The new terabit capacity and 100Gbps direct connectivity to global content hubs and interconnection points ensure that Jio will continue to offer its customers the most exceptional high-speed internet and digital service experience”, adding, “We are excited to participate in the launch and deliver the cable landing in Mumbai at the time when India’s data traffic continues its accelerated data consumption and growth.”
In total, there would be 21 landing points across the route, and for better synchronisation, Reliance Jio has partnered with some of the largest telecom service providers such as China Unicom, Etisalat, GT5L, Mobily, Omantel, Reliance Jio, Telecom Egypt, TeleYemen, and many others.
Reliance is providing Network Operations and Management for AAE-1 Cable System.
Video Is The Focus
As per analysts, Jio jumped into this undersea cable business, to support their own network’s video consumption demand. With lower per GB cost, demand for videos have gone up considerably, and this new undersea cable system will help Jio to meet the demands, besides partnering with other telcos to earn revenues as well.
Meanwhile, Jio has partnered with Xiaomi to offer additional 30 GB of data, whenever a Xiaomi user recharges their Jio SIM with Rs 309 recharge.
This offer is applicable for users of Redmi 2, Redmi 2 Prime, Redmi Note 4G, Redmi Note 4G Prime, Mi 4i, Redmi Note 2, Mi 5, Mi Max, Mi Max Prime, Redmi 3s, Redmi 3s plus, Redmi 3s Prime, Redmi Note 4, Redmi 4A and Redmi 4 handsets.
The main condition is that this offer is only valid for those users, who have activated their Jio connection after June 16th.