Reliance Jio to connect IAX Undersea Cable with Maldives

Reliance Jio will land the next generation multi-terabit India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) undersea cable system in Hulhumale, Maldives. The high capacity and high-speed IAX system will connect Hulhumale directly with World’s major internet hubs in India and Singapore. Notably, this, along with the IEX, are two of the most important developments in telecommunications infrastructure this decade; the projects will link India, Europe to Southeast Asia, and the Maldives.

Reliance Jio to Land India-Asia-Xpress Undersea Cable in Maldives, Singapore

Notably, Reliance Jio is building two undersea cables, the India-Asia-Xpress, and the India-Europe-Xpress. The IEX will connect Mumbai to Europe and interconnect to the east coast of the US. And conversely, the IAX connects Mumbai and Chennai to Maldives, Singapore, and other countries in Asia's Far East countries.

Incidentally, the IAX originates in Mumbai, circumventing the Cape Comorin, and going straight to Singapore. However, it has additional landings in India, at Chennai, at Hulhumale, in the Maldives, and in Malaysia and Thailand. On the other hand, the IEX connects Mumbai to Milan in Italy, first landing in Savona, Italy. This system also has landings in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. For now, both the undersea cable systems are under construction; Jio estimates that IAX will go live in 2023-end, while IEX will go live in mid-2024.

These high-capacity and high-speed systems will provide more than 200Tb/s of capacity at speeds of 100Gb/s, over 16,000 kilometers. The systems employ open system technology and the latest wavelength switched RoADM/branching units. This ensures rapid upgrade deployment and the ultimate flexibility to add/drop waves across multiple locations.

On this occasion, the Minister of Economic Development, Maldives, Uz Fayyaz Ismail, said, "this is the first stride towards enhancing our connectivity infrastructure and opening vast opportunities for our people through providing secure, affordable, and high-quality services. We also aim to diversify our economy and establish ourselves as a key communications hub in South Asia. Aside from economic development, this will accelerate social development through high-speed internet access throughout the Maldives allowing us to attain the equitable development we seek".

Further, Mathew Oommen, President, Reliance Jio, said, "IAX will not only connect the Maldives to the world’s content hubs, but it will also support the explosive growth in data demand expected from the new initiatives being launched by the government of Maldives". He added, "Jio is very pleased to be working with the government of the Maldives to help realize this ambition by providing high-quality, terabit capacity supporting Web 3.0-capable internet services".