Improved internet quality ahead: New subsea cable routes to widen India’s data highway

New Delhi: Digital connectivity in India is set to get a major boost, with three large undersea cable projects — 2Africa Pearls, India-Asia-Express (IAX) and India-Europe-Express (IEX) — slated to go onstream between October and next March, expanding existing capacity by more than four times, said people familiar with the matter.

2Africa, among the longest subsea cable systems in the world, spanning over 45,000 km, has investments from Bharti Airtel and Meta, among others. It will have a capacity of 180 terabits per second (tbps), connecting 33 countries, including Sunil Mittal-led Airtel’s landing station in Mumbai. IAX and IEX involve contributions from Reliance Jio, among others.