World's longest submarine cable system inaugurated

JAKARTA (JP): Indosat, the state-owned telecommunications company, and its 51 partners from 46 countries, officially inaugurated the world's longest optical submarine communication system yesterday.

The inauguration of the submarine cable system, linking Southeast Asia, the Middle East and western Europe, was carried out simultaneously between Jakarta, Singapore, Bombay and Paris, -- four of the systems 14 landing points -- through a videoconference broadcast.

In Indonesia the new cable facility was inaugurated by Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria Purawidjaja, in Singapore by chairman of Singapore Telecom Koh Boon Hwee, in India by senior telecommunication official B. K. Syngal and in France by Charles Rozmaryn, chief executive officer of France Telecom.

Safwan Natanegara, the director for the development of Indosat, said that the construction of the cable system, which cost US$700 million, was completed in June 1994, six years after its start in 1988.

The total cost, far lower than the $800 million originally estimated, was financed by 52 founding co-signatories of the Construction and Maintenance Agreement signed on Oct. 2, 1991. In exchange for their investment, each is a part owner of the system's transmission capacity.

"It has a capacity of 15,360 circuits and can handle up to 60,000 conversations simultaneously," Safwan said.

Investment

He said Indosat, which floated 27.5 percent of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday and another 7.5 percent of shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange today, has invested around $28 million in the new communication system, called Sea-Me-We2.

The system, which started commercial service in July, 1994, is the longest fiber-optic submarine cable ever laid, stretching 18,000 kilometers from Marseilles in France to Singapore.

The system directly links 13 countries, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Jibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France, putting one-third of the world's population in direct contact with each other.

Safwan said the new system, the first submarine fiber-optic cable laid in the Indian Ocean, is linked to the two submarine cables in the Pacific Ocean, TPC-4 and TPC-5 and also to the two submarine cable systems in the Atlantic Ocean, TAT-11 and TAT-12. (hen)