How Bharti Airtel is Building Future of Indian Connectivity
India has taken a critical step towards enhanced global connectivity with the landing of the SEA-ME-WE-6 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-West Europe-6, or SMW6) submarine cable in Chennai.
This follows a previous landing in Mumbai on December 30, 2024.
The 21,700 Rkm undersea cable, developed by SubCom, directly links India to Singapore and France via Egypt, significantly improving India's international bandwidth capacity.
With a staggering 220 TBPs of global capacity, this cable strengthens India’s digital infrastructure, reinforcing its position as a crucial global data hub and boosting the nation's digital manufacturing capabilities.
Providing best-in-class services
Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecommunications providers, is a key stakeholder in this cable system.
Airtel has not only invested in the core cable but has also co-built a private network of four fibre pairs connecting Singapore, Chennai and Mumbai.
The integration of these landings with Airtel’s data centre arm, Nxtra by Airtel, ensures seamless connectivity for global hyperscalers and businesses operating in India.
With this development, India’s role in the global internet ecosystem continues to expand, providing more reliable and efficient connectivity to enterprises and individuals alike.
“At Airtel we strive to provide the best in class services to our customers and this new investment and milestone would further improve our secure, diverse and scalable global network," says Sharat Sinha, Director & CEO at Airtel Business.
"We are delighted to further strengthen our global connectivity by landing one of the largest cable systems into our facilities. This complements our existing network strength of 400,000 Rkms across 50 countries.
"This also underlines our commitment to address Digital India’s growing demand for global connectivity & data with additional routes, diversity and capacity.”
Driving the future of India's digital manufacturing
The enhanced connectivity brought by SEA-ME-WE-6 is vital for India’s manufacturing sector, which is experiencing rapid evolution in conjunction with the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
As global supply chains become increasingly digital, uninterrupted and high-speed connectivity is essential for data transfer, cloud computing and real-time communication between businesses across continents.
Manufacturing companies, especially those in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, automotive and healthcare, rely on massive amounts of data to operate efficiently.
The new cable system will provide lower latency and greater bandwidth, giving Indian manufacturers the ability to integrate more seamlessly into global networks.
Transforming India into a global data hub
India’s strategic position in the international data landscape is reinforced by the SEA-ME-WE-6 cable system.
Airtel’s global network spans five continents and the company has investments in 34 major subsea cable systems, making India an increasingly critical data transit point between Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The inclusion of the new submarine cable will reduce reliance on older networks, improving redundancy and resilience against potential disruptions.
Nxtra by Airtel, which operates some of India’s largest data centres, will leverage this enhanced connectivity to provide secure and high-speed data solutions to businesses.
The presence of advanced data centre facilities, coupled with the new submarine cable, will attract more multinational companies to host their data infrastructure in India.
This is set drive investments in AI, cloud computing and financial technology, further solidifying India’s reputation as a global digital powerhouse.
The SEA-ME-WE-6 cable constitutes a major milestone in India’s journey towards broader digital transformation.
By providing ultra-fast global connectivity, this development will accelerate the country’s ambitions of becoming a leader in manufacturing, technology and various data-driven industries.
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