The SEA-ME-WE 5 (southeast Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 5) cable is designed to connect Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, India, Pakistan, Oman, the UAE, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy and France, and 17 companies initially signed the agreement in January this year.
The 20,00km fibre-optic cable has an expected launch date at the end of 2016, and is now the fourth submarine cable Orange is co-owner of; after SEA-ME-WE 3, SEA-ME-WE 4 and IMEWE, launched in 1999, 2005 and 2010 respectively.
Orange hopes the SEA-ME-WE 5 will be beneficial in terms of additional capacity, as well as providing an alternative route which guarantees the protection of voice and data traffic passing through other cables in the area.
The interconnection point in Djibouti is also expected to allow Orange to establish a new route across the Indian Ocean and support the growth of broadband services in the islands of Reunion and Mayotte.
