Du to be linchpin in telecoms connection network through Middle East

Du to help connect South East Asia to Europe through a 20,000km undersea cable system that will increase quality of voice and internet services.

The Dubai-listed telecoms service provider du will be a stepping stone in connecting South East Asia to Europe through the Middle East.

Du has joined 14 telecoms companies to form a consortium called the South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5).

A 20,000 kilometre undersea cable system connecting 15 countries is expected to improve the quality of data service and internet from the UAE to Europe and SouthEast Asia.

In the UAE, the cable system will touch down in Fujairah, du’s landing station. It will open to commercial traffic by 2016.

Last week, du secured a $1.17 billion loan deal for three to five years from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group, the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Singapore. The money will go towards refinancing existing debt and financing equipment purchases.

“The more connected life for all residents mean that the demand for internet bandwidth and data-hungry applications is only going to grow, hence our investment in this project is part of our forward planning to remain ahead of our customers’ requirements individuals and businesses,” said Farid Faraidooni, the chief operations officer for du, who was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to sign the deal on Friday.

The SEA-ME-WE 5 network will adopt 100 gigabytes per second (Gbps) technology. When fully loaded, it is capable of carrying 24,000Gbps of capacity, about the same as transmitting 4,800 high-definition movies per second, according to du.

The participating telecoms providers include Bangladesh Submarine Cable, China Mobile International, China Telecommunications Global, China United Network Communications Group, Orange, Myanmar Post and Telecom, Telekomunikasi Indonesia International, Saudi Telecom, Singapore Telecommunications, Sri Lanka Telecom, Telekom Malaysia, Telecom Italia Sparkle, TOT of Thailand, and Yemen International  Telecommunications.

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