Maldives has signed an agreement with India’s largest mobile operator Reliance Jio Infocomm, which will land the multi-terabit India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) submarine cable system in Hulhumale’, Maldives. The high capacity and high-speed IAX system will connect Hulhumale directly with the world’s major internet hubs in India and Singapore.
The IAX system originates in Mumbai and connects directly to Singapore, with branches including additional landings in India, Malaysia, and Thailand. These high capacity and high-speed systems will provide more than 200TB/s of capacity at speeds of 100GB/s, over 16,000 kilometers.
Minister of Economic Development, Fayyaz Ismail said that 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.
Minister Fayyaz also added that the aim is to diversify our economy and establish ourselves as a key communications hub in South Asia. In addition to economic development, this would also accelerate social development via high-speed internet access throughout the Maldives, allowing it to attain equitable development.
Reliance Jio’s President Mathew Oommen highlighted that the 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.
Jio’s IAX project will be done in collaboration with Ocean Connect Maldives.