Orient Link Pte. Ltd. (OLL) and NEC Corporation (NEC) announced that they have signed an agreement to build the MIST Cable System (MIST). MIST will directly connect Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and India (Mumbai and Chennai) and deliver a design capacity of more than 216 terabits per second (Tbps). Construction of the nearly 8,100-kilometer optical submarine cable is targeted to be completed by the third quarter of FY2022.
The Asia region has experienced accelerated digital investment driven by data center growth, the proliferation of mobile, 5G services and business expansion of digital platforms, such as SNS, e-commerce and cloud services for enterprises. These advancements have contributed to an increasing amount of data traffic across submarine cables. MIST will further enhance and contribute to the much-needed expansion of communications networks from Asia, thereby improving network redundancy, ensuring highly reliable communications and expanding onward connectivity options in the Bay of Bengal.
"Globally, India and Southeast Asia are among the world's fastest-growing economies. I am very pleased to announce the launch of MIST, providing a truly connected India to our clients around the world, delivering high-quality, low-latency networks to the people in India as the nation charges forward with its digital transformation roadmap," said Yoshio Sato, CEO, OLL "Not only will MIST respond to the growing demands for inter-DC-connectivity across countries in the Southeast Asia region, but it ultimately allows for OLL to grow its offering and expand into India and beyond. OLL has selected NEC as a supply partner whose extensive experience in expeditiously implementing submarine cable systems will play a key role in our project's success."
"We are honored to be selected as the supplier for MIST together with our local affiliate in India (NEC Technologies India Private Ltd (NECTI)). In recent years, we have been supplying the majority of submarine cables in the region and this project enables NEC to continue contributing to advanced infrastructure for serving growing traffic demands," said Atsushi Kuwahara, General Manager, Submarine Network Division, NEC. "Together with NECTI, we intend to fully capitalize on our regional expertise in Southeast Asia and India to ensure the successful completion of this project."
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