Reliance Jio announces launch of Bay of Bengal Gateway submarine network

Reliance Jio, a member of consortium behind the 8,100-km Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) undersea cable system, says it has launched services over the submarine network.

BBG connects India to South East Asia and the Middle East, with onward connectivity to Europe, Africa and Far East Asia via connections to other cable systems. It has an initial capacity of 9 Tbps, based on 100-Gbps wavelengths.

Other members of the consortium include Dialog Axiata, Etisalat, Omantel, Telecom Malaysia, and Vodafone. The consortium awarded a construction contract for the submarine cable systems in 2013 to Alcatel-Lucent (now part of Nokia; see "Bay of Bengal Gateway consortium chooses Alcatel-Lucent for 100G undersea cable system").

Reliance Jio owns and operates the undersea cable landing facility in Chennai, India.

"We are excited about the launch of BBG as it offers not just direct connectivity in and out of India through Chennai and Mumbai but also acts as a state-of-the-art 100-Gbps extension of Jio's 100-Gbps core network," said Mathew Oommen, president of Reliance Jio. "This global connectivity brings key international content hubs closer to our customers, delivering a much richer experience as an important part of driving India's broadband adoption, enabling consumers to shift away from the current high-cost low value propositions."

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