Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm on Monday said that it will land its next-generation multi-terabit India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) undersea cable system in Hulhumale, Maldives. This high-speed and high capacity IAX system will connect Maldives with the major internet hubs in India and Singapore, Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries, said in a press release.

The IAX system, which originated in Mumbai, will connect directly to Singapore, with branches including additional landings in India, Malaysia, and Thailand.

“The IndiaEurope-Xpress (IEX) system connects Mumbai to Milan, landing in Savona, Italy, and includes additional landings in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean,” Jio said.

As per the company, IAX is expected to be ready for service end-2023, while IEX will be ready for service in mid-2024. These high capacity and high-speed systems will provide more than 200Tb/s of capacity at speeds of 100Gb/s, over 16,000 kilometers. Employing open system technology and the latest wavelength switched RoADM/branching units ensures rapid upgrade deployment and the ultimate flexibility to add/drop waves across multiple locations, it said.

“IEX and IAX together will be one of the most important developments in telecommunications infrastructure in this decade, linking India, Europe to Southeast Asia, and now the Maldives,” Jio added.

Speaking about the launch of the Maldives' first international cable, the Minister of Economic Development, Uz Fayyaz Ismail said: “This is the first stride towards enhancing our connectivity infrastructure and opening vast opportunities for our people through providing secure, affordable and high-quality services. We also aim to diversify our economy and establish ourselves as a key communications hub in South Asia. Aside from economic development, this will accelerate social development through high-speed internet access throughout the Maldives allowing us to attain the equitable development we seek.”

“Today’s global economy is driven by low-latency broadband, connecting people, businesses, content, and services. IAX will not only connect Maldives to the world’s content hubs, but it will also support the explosive growth in data demand expected from the new initiatives being launched by the government of Maldives,” said Mathew Oommen, President, Reliance Jio.

“Jio is very pleased to be working with the government of the Maldives to help realise this ambition by providing high-quality, terabit capacity supporting Web 3.0-capable internet services,” Oommen added.

Last week, Jio Platforms, an arm of Reliance Industries, had announced an alliance with SES, a global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider, to form a joint venture – Jio Space Technology – to deliver the next generation scalable and affordable broadband services in India leveraging satellite technology, RIL said in an exchange filing on Monday. Jio Platforms (JPL) will own 51% equity stake in the joint venture (JV), while SES hold the remaining 49% shares in the entity.

India-Asia-Xpress

Jio’s new subsea cable system to connect Maldives directly to India, Singapore