Reliance Comm to Build $600 m Submarine Cable

Reliance Communications will take up a project worth USD 600 million that will lay an undersea cable at a length of a 68,000 kms to carry data across Europe and Asia. The system will connect to Italy on the west and Hong Kong in the East to its Indian base.

It is expected to grow three-fold in revenues in five-years time for its wholly owned subsidiary Global Cloud Exchange, that is laying the cable.

Expected to be operational by 2020, it has the revenue potential of USD 1 billion per year. The cable will also increase the company's capacity by ten times.

In 2017, Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications exited consumer-based wireless business to focus on enterprise segment after suffering a debt of Rs 45,000 crore.

The project will be financed by its partners, whose number is expected to increase to 30 through pre-sales and is expecting to get over USD 700 million, as against the cost of USD 600 million. It has already tied up with 6 partners, including Alibaba and raised USD 300 million in commitments.