Du joins Europe-Southeast Asia cable consortium

UAE-based service provider du has joined an international consortium of telcos committed to building a cable system that will connect Southeast Asia to Europe through the Middle East. 

South East Asia – Middle East -Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5) is an undersea cable system that will connect 15 countries and will run for a length of approximately 20,000 km.

Du said that SEA-ME-WE 5 will branch into the UAE throught its landing station in Fujairah, and said that the country’s connection to the system will “increase the quality of data service and internet from the UAE to Europe and South East Asia.”

“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,” said du chief operations officer, Farid Faraidooni.

“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.”

Other members of the SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium include Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, Saudi Telecom Company, Yemen International Telecommunications Co, Orange and telcos from China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Singapore.

SEA-ME-WE 5 cable system is expected to start carrying commercial traffic by early 2016.