Reliance Jio unveils Asia-Africa-Europe submarine cable system: All you need to know

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm announced the launch of Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1) submarine cable system, bringing up to 40 Terabits of new capacity to the region.

The new cable comes at a time when the India's data needs are soaring and consumers in the world's second largest telecom market are just about getting used to streaming music, watching videos and TV on-the-go.

Jio - a 4G and mobile broadband digital services provider that has created a stir in the Indian telecom market with aggressive data and voice offerings - said the cable will serve increasing demand for video-centric data bandwidth. It will support all types of communications, applications, and content within India and beyond.

The submarine cable system will stretch over 25,000 km from Marseille, France, to Hong Kong, with 21 cable landings across Asia and Europe. "This large scale project is the combined work of leading telecom service providers from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia," Jio said in a release.

The cable consortium includes China Unicom, Etisalat, GT5L, Mobily, Omantel, Reliance Jio, Telecom Egypt, TeleYemen, and many others.

With Points of Presence (PoP) in Asia (Hong Kong and Singapore) and three onward connectivity options in Europe (via France, Italy and Greece), the submarine system is expected to provide the "requisite flexibility and diversity" for carriers and their customers, the release added.

It would link other cable systems and fiber networks to deliver direct access to all global markets. Mathew Oommen, President-Jio, said that the new terabit capacity and 100Gbps direct connectivity to global content hubs would ensure that Jio continues to offer customers high speed internet and rich digital service experience.

"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 consumption and growth," he added.

Jio provides the Network Operations and Management for AAE-1 Cable System. The AAE-1 NOC (network operations centre), managed by Jio, leverages a new-age facility in Navi Mumbai along with advanced tools and automation, the release added.