Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), the submarine cable subsidiary of Reliance Communications (RCOM), has shortlisted three vendors for the construction of its India Cloud Xchange (ICX) sub-sea cable. Two technology companies along with one infrastructure provider have been selected as partners for the completion of the project.
The ICX cable is part of the telecom operator?s strategy to provide a direct sub-sea route for provision of connectivity in the emerging markets, and to meet the demand for high bandwidth for cloud-based applications and services. With regard to the growing demand for cloud-based services, RCOM is targeting revenue from its enterprise business to cross $1 billion annually over the next year and half.
According to the company, the under-sea cable will be completed with an investment of about $200 million, one-fourth of which will be spent by RCOM and rest by the three selected partners.
The ICX fibre system will stretch around 5,060 km between Mumbai and Singapore with a branch landing in either Thiruvananthapuram or Chennai. It will be a four-fibre pair system with an initial design capacity per fibre pair at 80×100 G using a next-generation coherent submarine fibre.
In the future, the company plans to integrate the ICX system with the existing submarine infrastructure of GCX for direct connectivity to West Asia, Europe and US East Coast.
