VSNL Boosts Asia Subsea Capacity
With demand for telecom services booming across India and other Asian countries, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) (NYSE: VSL - message board) is investing more than $600 million to upgrade its 20-terabit international submarine network with additional capacity. (See VSNL Plans Two Cable Systems.)
In a move that will have equipment suppliers like Alcatel (NYSE: ALA - message board; Paris: CGEP:PA) and Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo: 6702 - message board; London: FUJ) rubbing their metaphorical hands, VSNL said last week it plans to spend $600 million on building two new submarine cable systems – one connecting India with Europe, and another connecting Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan – and today its international subsidiary in Singapore expanded on its plans for the intra-Asia cable. (See VSNL Plans New Asia Cable.)
The $200 million cable will operate alongside the Tata Indicom Cable (TIC) and the TGN-Pacific system, which are each capable of supporting more than 7-Tbit/s of traffic.
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