India Invites Telecom Majors to Lay Submarine Cables in Indian Ocean

A key Indian military base overlooking the Malacca Straits plans to get connected by secure and fast communication links. India hopes to complete vendor selection and start get the project to lay over 1,300 kms of undersea cables between the base and the southern megapolis of Chennai.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — India has kick-started plans to provide fast and reliable telecom connection between the island chain of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the mainland. The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has invited global bids for improving connectivity to this strategically important location in the Indian Ocean region.

The government has given its approval to a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fiber Cable between India’s mainland (Chennai) and six islands of Abdaman & Nicobar Islands at a cost of $ 165 million. Sources told Sputnik that the companies will be selected by January 2017.

Besides being a tourist haven, Andaman & Nicobar Islands are very close to Malacca Straits, a narrow but very busy shipping thoroughfare. India has vastly upgraded its military base with the latest weaponry including Russian Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jets.