ABU DHABI - The Emirates Telecommunications and Marine Services FZE (e-marine), a subsidiary of the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) yesterday announced that the CS Niwa, its newest and most advanced cable-ship, had set sail from Abu Dhabi, signalling the beginning of the laying of Segment-2 from Mumbai to Jeddah of the prestigious SMW4 project to connect Singapore to France through the UAE.
Alcatel Submarine Networks SMW4 project is the fourth in a series of ambitious submarine cables linking the East and West. The innovative voice data carrier aims at bridging the digital divide between developed and developing countries, effectively connecting the world at large.
The Niwa set sail for Calais, France, where under the contract awarded to e-marine by Alcatel, it will take on a cargo of submarine cables before proceeding to lay the cables, said Omar Jassim bin Kalban, CEO of e-marine.
"Our plans and preparations for CS Niwa and this project have come to fruition and we are sure that e-marine will excel in the assigned sector," he said.
Of the total 20,000 km length of SMW4 cable, e-marine will lay 5,500 km of submarine cable in Segment-2, connecting Mumbai, Karachi, Fujairah, Jeddah to Suez and will also be involved in Segment-1 of the project relating to shore-end burial and other ancillary works in Mumbai.
CS Niwa has the capacity to load 6,000 cables.
The new cable system, which will be operative in the third quarter of 2005, will facilitate 20 million voice calls and 60,000 broadcast TV channels at the same time. E-marine is involved in several major international submarine cable systems.
Apart from their three cable-ships, e-marine provides storage services for submarine cables and accessories in its depot.BY A STAFF REPORTER
© Khaleej Times 2004
