Dubai, UAE, 7  March 2014  - Considering the anticipated exponential growth in voice and data requirements of the UAE in future, du, the Middle East’s fastest growing telecom service provider has joined an international consortium comprising of several telecom companies to build South East Asia - Middle East -Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5). An agreement was signed today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to mark the project. Representatives from all consortium members were part of ceremony; from du it included Farid Faraidooni – Chief Operations Officer, du.

Commenting on the agreement, Farid Faraidooni – Chief Operations Officer, du, said: “As a UAE National company we feel proud that our collaboration on this global project will lead to future growth of the UAE, as envisioned by the UAE leadership’s plans such as Vision 2021. Through this we would like to be key player in leading our country’s aspirations in becoming a business hub, taking the lead in e-governance, Smart City initiatives in addition contributing to the UAE readiness to host historical events like expo 2020. 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. This submarine cable underpins our effort in datamena the connectivity and transit platform. ” 

SEA-ME-WE 5 is an undersea cable system with an approximate length of 20,000 km passing Southeast Asia to Europe,. this mega project will connect 15 countries. SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system will branch to the UAE with du’s landing station in Fujairah. With a direct connection of the UAE to the SEA-ME-WE 5 Cable System, the capacity will increase the quality of data service and internet from the UAE to Europe and South East Asia. 

Following companies are the members of the SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium: Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), China Mobile International Limited (CMI), China Telecommunications Global Limited (CTG), China United Network Communications Group Company Limited (CU), , Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, PJSC, (du), Orange (), Myanmar Post and Telecom (MPT), PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel), Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT), Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), Telecom Italia Sparkle (TIS), TOT Public Company Limited, and Yemen International Telecommunications Co. (TeleYemen). The SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system is expected to start carrying commercial traffic by early 2016. It is designed to provide upgradable transmission facilities by adopting state-of-the-art 100 Gigabytes per second (Gbps) technology. Fully loaded, it is capable of carrying 24,000 Gbps of capacity, which is the equivalent of transmitting about 4,800 high-definition movies per second.

du’s investments in other cable systems:

• MEETS: MEETS (Middle East-Europe Terrestrial System) is a land based high-speed terrestrial network. It is a result of a partnership between four regional operators - du, along with Zain, Zajil and Vodafone Qatar allowing for better Internet connectivity within the region. It is a 1,400 kilometer fibre optic network that will link Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait that have previously relied on undersea cables for connectivity. The initial capacity of MEETS is 200 gigabits per second.

• EIG: The EIG (Europe India Gateway) submarine cable was conceived by a 16-member consortium of leading regional and international operators, including du, responsible for the construction of the $700 million submarine cable system. In addition to complementing existing high-bandwidth cable systems in the region, the EIG will provide much needed diversity for broadband traffic, which currently relies on traditional routes from Europe to India.