India eyes potential to become a hub for submarine cables, global backbone

In the midst of terrestrial and satellite telecom issues grabbing headlines, the real data drivers often take a backseat. This is about the universe of submarine telecom cables — you can call them the backbone of global communications, carry­ing approximately 99 per cent of internet traffic. Physically linking continents, the cables also connect markets. As of 2024, more than 500 active cable systems are in operation, transmitting vast amounts of data with high efficiency, supporting critical services such as commerce, finance, gover­n­ment operations, digital health, and education.

 

Where is India in all this?

 

Experts believe that given its strategic geographical position, India has great potential to become a hub for submarine cables, connecting with Europe, West Asia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Partnering with telecom operators, global submarine cable consortiums have outlined plans to land multiple cables in India. For instance, Meta last month announced India would be a key component of the ambitious 50,000 km Project Waterworth which will touch the United States, India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions.

 

Telcos in India have for long been engaged in this space. Among the recent initiatives, telecom operator Bharti Airtel announced the landing of the new SEA-ME-WE 6 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-West Europe-6, or SMW6) communications cable in Chennai, promising to bring a whopping 220 terabit per second (TBPs) of global data capacity to India. The 21,700 km-long optical fibre submarine cable connecting India to Singapore and France (Marseille) is expected to be followed by another Airtel investment — the 2AfricaPearls cable connecting India to Africa, and the Gulf. Rival Reliance Jio is gearing up to land two transcontinental cables — India-Asia Express (IEX) and India-Europe-Express (IAX) — by the middle of this year.

 

According to Anil Kumar Lahoti, chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), India’s data transmission capacity is expected to grow four times with the activation of new submarine cables due this year. These cables would connect India to several key markets of the world.

 

Demand for data 

 

Increase in the number of submarine cables is key to reducing latency, improving network speed and performance in India, Harsh Walia, partner, technology, media and telecom (privacy and data protection) at law firm Khaitan & Co, said. “Increased capacity may also bring down data transit costs, while hyperscalers and big-tech companies prefer regions with multiple submarine cables for reliability and redundancy. Overall, it will also boost foreign investment into India by attracting global enterprises and data centre operators,” he pointed out.

 

Government estimates suggest that India currently hosts 18 international subsea cables across 14 distinct landing stations located in five cities — Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Thoothukudi, and Thiruvana­n­th­apuram. The full traffic-carrying capability, called lit capacity, and the activated capacity on these internati­onal subsea cables were 180 terabytes per second (tbps) and 132 tbps, respectively, by end-2023. In fact, the undersea cable operators’ activated capacity in India surged nine times between 2016 and 2021.

 

There are also domestic submarine cables such as the Chennai-Andaman and Nicobar Island Cable (CANI) connecting Port Blair along with seven other islands of Andaman & Nicobar, and the Kochi-Laksh­a­d­weep Island (KLI) cable system for a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine optical fibre cable between Kochi and 11 islands of Lakshadweep.

 

Submarine cables are typically laid by a combination of global telecom giants, consortiums, and infrastructure providers.

 

Data centres

 

According to industry estimates, there are 152 data centres in India, and the number is growing fast. This is due to a quantum growth in data consumption and Cloud computing. “India currently has 1.2 Gw of DC capacity in operation, with 800 Mw under construction and another 1.9 Gw in planning stages. A brief study conducted by us in 2024 suggested that actual need for data centres in India could be much higher,” said Vivek Dahiya, head of Data Centre Advisory & Transaction Services, Data Centre Group, Asia Pacific, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). The three-major cables landing in India, in 2025, could likely result in quadrupling internet capacity in India and improve the internet speed significa­ntly, C&W India Research had said in the study. The installed colocation data centre capacity in the country (top seven cities) was 1.21 Gw at 2024-end, jumping more than three-fold in just five years, according to the company; 2024 was the second-consecutive year that 200+ Mw of capacity was added.

 

Massive data centres that offer cloud computing services and data solutions, called hyperscalers, are also contributing to the immediate demand for cable connecti­vity. Telcos are increasingly looking at monetisation of cable investments. This is what Bharti Airtel Vice Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Vittal told Business Standard while replying to a query on the business outlook: “Our data centre business is growing steadily. Within the global segment, we have two parts: Commodity voice and messaging as well as monetisation of cable investments. On the latter, there was a slowdown to the extent of interest from OTT players, but we are beginning to see some change in this in the current quarter in terms of the order book. This is a very profitable part of the portfolio and so is now seeing signs of growth, which bodes well into the coming year.” 

 

The average per capita, monthly wireless data consumption stood at 21 gigabytes (GB) as of September, 2024, according to Trai. By December, 2024, company reports showed data consumption by Reliance Jio users at 32 GB and Airtel users at 24.5 GB. 

 

Policies catching up

 

Policymaking on cable landing stations has gained pace over the past few years, with the government taking note of how a plethora of undersea cables landing in India is directly proportional to increasing data independe­nce and secure connections.

 

In a move to ease the rules for setting up submarine cable landing stations (CLS) in India, Trai, in 2023, recommended a new licensing framework and regulatory mechanism for the sector. The current licensing framework restricts non-telecom entities from owning and operating cable landing stations. “To foster competition and innovation, private players should be allowed entry into this sector, subject to minimal regulatory intervention and light-touch obligations,” Walia said.

 

Currently, the Department of Telecom­m­unications (DoT) oversees licens­ing and approvals, while Trai regulates pricing, competition, and access to cable infrastru­cture. The external affairs ministry is involved in diplomatic approvals for international cables.

 

In December 2024, India secured a position in the 40-member global body established to keep an eye on the health of the world’s 1.4 million-km subsea cable network. “It is in our interest to be part of global groupings dedicated to this crucial infrastructure,’’ a DoT official said.

 

That’s another reason for submarine cab­l­es to be upfront in the telecom narra­tive, al­o­ng with all the terrestrial and satellite buzz. 

Major players in India 

> Tata Communications, which owns five cable landing stations in Mumbai, Chennai, and Kochi

> Global Cloud Xchange (formerly Reliance Globalcom), which owns stations in Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram

> Reliance Jio, with cable landing stations in Chennai and Mumbai and new projects underway

> Bharti Airtel, operating stations in Chennai and Mumbai, and also landing the 2Africa/EMIC-1 and SEA-ME WE 6 cables

> Sify Technologies and BSNL, both involved in the operation of various cable landing stations

> Vodafone and IOX, the latter planning to construct a new cable landing station in Puducherry