Bharti ties-up with telecom Cos to build cables

New Delhi, Apr 29: Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel Ltd have signed a construction and maintenance agreement with global telecom leaders in Kuala Lumpur, to build a submarine cable system for 560 million dollars.

The cable system known as the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) will be the first high bandwidth optical fibre submarine cable system from South East Asia to the US.

The cable project is spearheaded by 17 telecommunication companies namely Aiti, AT&T, BayanTel, Bharti, BT Global Network Services, CAT Telecom, ETPI, Maxis among others.

''This investment is in line with our strategy to extend international footprint and focus on connecting customers in India to Asia and the Americas,'' Airtel Enterprise Services President David Nishball said in a statement here.

The AAG cable systems will help offer increased redundancy and resilent networks, while meeting the increasing demands of voice, private data and internet traffic.

''The AAG cable system will compliment existing high bandwidth cable systems in the region. In addition, the AAG cable system will provide the much-needed diversity against traditional routes to the US, mainly carrying broadband traffic,'' he said.

UNI