Blog: I-ME-WE Submarine Cable Lunched Cmmercially

I-ME-WE submarine cable launched for commercial use to link Asia-Europe faster

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The launch of IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe), a fiber optic submarine cable system which links India & Europe via Middle East was announced  in New Delhi

The 13,000 km (8,100 mi) long, three pair fiber optic cable named IMEWE (india- Middle East- Western Europe), has a design capacity of 3.84 terabits per second.

The cable system will ease connectivity requirements of Middle East and European countries to Asia transiting through India and vice versa. The IMEWE will also help provide alternate routes for meeting bandwidth requirements.

Internet Service Providers and Network Operators hope to utilize the additional bandwidth to support high-bandwidth peer-to-peer IP-based broadband services such as multimedia streaming, broadband Internet and voice/video telephony.

With the activation and the beginning of operations of IMEWE, all member countries shall witness a new era in communications that will undoubtedly lay the foundations for faster international connectivity for generations to come. IMEWE system shall also play a major role of providing continuity of service in case of technical problems in other existing major cables on the route.

Walid Irshaid, President and CEO, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, said, “ As the sixth populous country of the world, Pakistan is witness to phenomenal and exponential growth in Broadband services. It is foreseen that the internet user community will continue to increase substantially, demanding ever higher speed, availability and quality. Following the commissioning of IMEWE with a landing station at Karachi, we at PTCL expect to fulfill our mandate of meeting and exceeding the demands of both our corporate and household broadband customers. Through our robust, resilient, redundant and diversified international infrastructure of three submarine cables namely SMW3, SMW4 and IMEWE, we aim to harness and propel the growth of Pakistan’s broadband market, connecting not only our own customers to the world but also serving as a catalyst for the entire broadband industry of Pakistan.

Other functional submarine cables for same route includes

•SEA-ME-WE 3
 &
•SEA-ME-WE 4

The cable system includes a terrestrial link connecting the cities of Alexandria and Suez in Egypt. The I-ME-WE cable system comprises three optical fibre cable pairs and 2 trunk lines.

(IMEWE Terminating Points) 

I-ME-WE cable landing stations:

• Mumbai (india) (two landing sites)


• Karachi (Pakistan)


• Fujairah (UAE)


• Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)


• Suez (Egypt)


• Alexandria (Egypt)


• Tripoli (Lebanon) Note: not Tripoli, Libya


• Catania (Italy)


• Marseille (France)

The IMEWE cable system was funded by a consortium of 9 companies from across the world:

1. PTCL (Pakistan)


2. Etisalat (UAE)


3. France Telecom (France)


4. Ogero (Lebanon)


5. Bharti Airtel (india)


6. STC (Saudi Arabia)


7. Telecom Egypt (Egypt)


8. Telecom Italia Sparkle (Italy)


9. Tata Communications (formerly VSNL) (India)

The contract for the construction and maintenance of the cable system has been awarded to Alcatel-Lucent.

Via: Pakistan Observer