Mitsubishi Electric to add 100 Gbps to IMEWE submarine cable system

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (TOKYO:6503) says it signed a contract last October to help upgrade the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) Cable System. The company will provide submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) and terrestrial line terminal equipment (TLTE) in eight countries to enable transmission of 100-Gbps DWDM signals over the submarine cable system.

IMEWE comprises three fiber pairs, with two fiber pairs on an express path, plus a terrestrial arm that connects the cities of Alexandria and Suez in Egypt. The upgrade, which is expected to be completed this quarter, will increase the system’s transmission capacity to 5.6 Tbps. Mitsubishi Electric will deliver its MF-11200GWS SLTE and TLTE to all 10 landing stations of IMEWE to complete the upgrade.

The 12,000-km IMEWE Cable System was commissioned in 2010 as a 10-Gbps DWDM system to link India to Europe via the Middle East (see "IMEWE broadband submarine cable begins operations, links the Middle East to India and Europe"). Mitsubishi Electric upgraded the system in 2012 (see "Mitsubishi Electric upgrades IMEWE undersea cable system").

A consortium of nine telecom operators in eight countries (India, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Italy, and France) owns the submarine network. Consortium members include Bharti Airtel Limited (India), Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (UAE), OGERO Telecom (Lebanon), Orange S.A. (France), Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (Pakistan), Saudi Telecom Company (Saudi Arabia), TATA Communications Limited (India), Telecom Egypt (Egypt), and Telecom Italia Sparkle S.p.A (Italy).

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