The Italian incumbent signed all relevant contracts in a ceremony which took place on March 7 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the presence of representatives from all of the cable consortium’s members.
“As a global player with a relevant share of our business generation in the areas connected by the new cable, with this investment in SEA-ME-WE 5 Sparkle has secured its leadership in the fast growing Asia to Middle East and Europe route,” Elisabetta Ripa, CEO of TI Sparkle, said in a statement.
“Moreover, our participation in SEA-ME-WE 5 will enhance Sparkle’s customer proposition with a diversified and low-latency route to and from Asia, thus strengthening further Sparkle’s role as a major cable landing hub in Europe and the Mediterranean,” she added.
The SEA-ME-WE 5 cable will span an estimated 20,000km across 17 countries, and is due to begin commercial operations in the first half of 2016.
The consortium of operators was announced on Friday last week, and Alcatel-Lucent and NEC have been revealed as official contractors for the implementation.
