The network will be created by combining Bharti airtel’s i2i cable system and its domestic network in India with Pacnet’s EAC-C2C cable system. The plans for the creating the new network out of the existing cable systems are estimated to cost $120 million.
EAC-C2C currently runs over 36,000km calling at 18 cable landing stations in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan, making it Asia’s largest privately-owned submarine cable network system.
"Increasing network capacity westward of Singapore is an important step forward in ensuring we are able to deliver on our customers' requirements and keep pace with the growth momentum which we are seeing across India," said Bill Barney, CEO of Pacnet.
“The new Chennai-US network will deliver much needed bandwidth as there is an exponential increase in demand for international connectivity from India to Asia and the US,” said Sunanda Das, Country Manager, Pacnet India.
Bharti airtel and Pacnet have experience of working together on other cable systems. In 2010, they were both members of the consortium which developed the Unity Cable system, linking Japan to the west coast of the US. The two telcos also entered a network-to-network interface in 2008, when they agreed to interconnect their respective networks, expanding connections to and from India.
