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SEA-ME-WE 3 (cable system)
Encyclopedia
SEA-ME-WE 3 or South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3 is an optical submarine telecommunications cable
linking those regions and is the longest in the world, completed in late 2000. It is operated by India's Tata Communications
and 92 other investors from the telecom industry. It was commissioned in March 2000.
It is 39000 kilometres (24,233.5 mi) in length and uses Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology with Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) transmission to increase capacity and enhance the quality of the signal, especially over long distances (this cable stretches from North Germany to Australia and Japan).
According to the cable system network administrator's website, the system capacity has been upgraded several times. The cable system itself has two fibre pairs, each carrying (as of May 2007) 48 wavelengths of 10 Gbit/s
It has 39 landing points
in:
that provided Pakistan
's major outer communications became defective, disrupting almost all of Pakistan's communications with the rest of the world, and affecting approximately 10 million Internet users.
On 26 December, 2006 this link severed, causing major disruption to internet services to and from the Far East. The cause of this was suspected to be a magnitude 7.1 earthquake
off the coast of Taiwan
. It was stated that the link would take 3 weeks to repair.
On 30 January, 2008 an apparent ship's anchor off Egypt's Alexandria
coast is thought to have cut the newer SEA-ME-WE 4 cable, which is intended to provide redundancy, causing slow Internet connections and disruption to international calls to the U.S. and Europe from the Middle East and South Asia. Over 70 percent of the network in Egypt was down. Although central to India's largest carrier, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
, the deputy-director general of that organisation said "Only 10 to 15 percent of our connectivity with the international gateway faced problems".
On 19 December, 2008, the cable was again severed, simultaneously with SEA-ME-WE 4, the FLAG FEA
cable, and the GO-1
cable.
On 12 December, 2010, the cable was again severely affected due to a cable break somewhere between the Alexandria and Sesimbra segments. The fault was later located 31km from the Alexandria cable station.
Several other cable systems following a substantially similar route to SEA-ME-WEA 3 between Asia and Western Europe:
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....
linking those regions and is the longest in the world, completed in late 2000. It is operated by India's Tata Communications
Tata Communications
Tata Communications Limited ) is a telecommunications company located in Mumbai. They own a submarine cable network, a Tier-1 IP network, and also rent data center and colocation space. They operate India's largest data center in Pune...
and 92 other investors from the telecom industry. It was commissioned in March 2000.
It is 39000 kilometres (24,233.5 mi) in length and uses Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology with Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) transmission to increase capacity and enhance the quality of the signal, especially over long distances (this cable stretches from North Germany to Australia and Japan).
According to the cable system network administrator's website, the system capacity has been upgraded several times. The cable system itself has two fibre pairs, each carrying (as of May 2007) 48 wavelengths of 10 Gbit/s
Landing points
Cable landing point
A cable landing point is the location where a submarine or other underwater cable makes landfall. The term is most often used for the landfall points of submarine telecommunications cables and submarine power cables. The landing will either be direct or via a branch from a main cable using a...
in:
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Service disruptions
In July 2005, a portion of the SEA-ME-WE 3 submarine cable located 35 kilometres (21.7 mi) south of KarachiKarachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
that provided Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
's major outer communications became defective, disrupting almost all of Pakistan's communications with the rest of the world, and affecting approximately 10 million Internet users.
On 26 December, 2006 this link severed, causing major disruption to internet services to and from the Far East. The cause of this was suspected to be a magnitude 7.1 earthquake
2006 Hengchun earthquake
The 2006 Hengchun earthquake occurred on Tuesday December 26, 2006 at 12:25 UTC , with an epicenter off the southwest coast of Taiwan, approximately 22.8 km west southwest of Hengchun, Pingtung County, Taiwan, with an exact hypocenter 21.9 km deep in the Luzon Strait , which connects the...
off the coast of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. It was stated that the link would take 3 weeks to repair.
On 30 January, 2008 an apparent ship's anchor off Egypt's Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
coast is thought to have cut the newer SEA-ME-WE 4 cable, which is intended to provide redundancy, causing slow Internet connections and disruption to international calls to the U.S. and Europe from the Middle East and South Asia. Over 70 percent of the network in Egypt was down. Although central to India's largest carrier, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is a state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is the largest provider of fixed telephony and fourth largest mobile telephony provider in India, and is also a provider of broadband services...
, the deputy-director general of that organisation said "Only 10 to 15 percent of our connectivity with the international gateway faced problems".
On 19 December, 2008, the cable was again severed, simultaneously with SEA-ME-WE 4, the FLAG FEA
Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe
Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe is a 28,000-kilometer-long submarine communications cable containing optical fiber that connects the United Kingdom, Japan, and many places in between. The cable is operated by India's Flag Telecom, a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications. The system...
cable, and the GO-1
GO-1
GO-1 is a submarine communications cable system that links Sicily to Malta, operated by the Maltese telecommunications company GO.It currently consists of a single cable, laid in 1995, linking St George's Bay in Malta to Catania in Sicily...
cable.
On 12 December, 2010, the cable was again severely affected due to a cable break somewhere between the Alexandria and Sesimbra segments. The fault was later located 31km from the Alexandria cable station.
See also
- List of international submarine communications cables
- Other Australian international submarine cables (and year of first service):
- Pipe Pacific CablePipe Pacific CablePIPE Pacific Cable is a submarine cable laid by PIPE Networks between Guam and Australia.The cable is approximately 6900 km long, and runs from Cromer, Australia, to Piti, Guam....
(2009) - Telstra Endeavour (2008)
- Australia-Japan CableAustralia-Japan CableThe Australia–Japan Cable, or AJC, is a 12,700km submarine telecommunications cable system linking Australia and Japan via Guam that became operational in 2001. It had an original design capacity of 640 Gbit/s, but was initially equipped to utilise only 80 Gbit/s of this capacity. In April 2008 a...
(2001) - Southern Cross CableSouthern Cross CableThe Southern Cross Cable, operated by Bermuda company Southern Cross Cables Limited, is a trans-Pacific network of telecommunications cables commissioned in 2000....
(2000) - JASURAUSJASURAUS (cable system)Jasuraus is a 5 Gbit/s, 2800km optical submarine telecommunications cable connecting Jakarta in Indonesia to Port Hedland In Australia. The name was derived from a concatenation of the original planned sites of 'Jakarta' - 'Surabaya' - 'Australia'...
(1997) - Pacrim WestPacRimWest (cable system)PacRimWest was a twin pair 560Mb/s optical submarine telecommunications cable which served as Australia's main link to the world along with its partner cables Tasman2 and Pacrim East ....
(1995)
- Pipe Pacific Cable
Several other cable systems following a substantially similar route to SEA-ME-WEA 3 between Asia and Western Europe:
- Europe-India GatewayEIG (cable system)Europe India Gateway is a submarine communications cable system that is planned to connect the U.K., Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India. It will be about 15,000 kilometres long. It is planned to be capable of delivering...
(EIG) - FLAG Europe Asia
- I-ME-WEI-ME-WEI-ME-WE is a submarine communications cable system between India and France. The design capacity is 3.84 Terabits per second. It has been operational since 2009...
- SEA-ME-WE 4