In news– The Union Environment Ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC) on Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) matters has given approval for the MIST submarine cable system recently.
What is the MIST submarine cable system?
- The project is known as the Myanmar/Malaysia-India-Singapore Transit (MIST) Submarine Cable System and is being executed by the global technology provider NEC Corp.
- It is an 8,100km-long undersea transnational fibre optic cable system connecting Mumbai to Singapore, via Chennai.
- The communication network Cable will traverse undersea to connect India with other Asian countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
- This will be the 17th such optical fibre cable system to land in Mumbai, and is expected to be ready for service sometime in 2023.
- The cable system’s landing site in Chennai, at Santhome Beach, was also given CRZ clearance.
- The total cost of the MIST project was pegged at around USD 400 million.
- MIST cable system will provide secure, reliable, robust and affordable telecom facilities in Asia. The main trunk route is from Tuas (Singapore) to Mumbai (India)
- The 17 submarine cable projects mentioned above include six upcoming undersea cables which will connect with Mumbai between 2023 and 2025, including the MIST.
- Two of them are Reliance Jio Infocomm’s India Asia Xpress (IAX), connecting India to the Maldives, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and the India Europe Xpress (IEX) which will connect India to Italy via Saudi Arabia and Greece.
- Others include the SeaMeWe-6 project, owned by a consortium of telecom providers, which will connect Singapore to France via India, Bangladesh, Maldives, and the multi-stakeholder-owned Africa2 cable, which will connect India with the United Kingdom via several African countries.
Source: Hindustan Times
