South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3 (SEA-ME-WE 3 or SMW3) is a submarine cable linking 39 cable landing stations in 33 countries and 4 continents, including Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe.

The SEA-ME-WE 3 submarine cable system retired on December 2^nd, 2024.

SEA-ME-WE 3 (SMW3) was the longest submarine cable system in the world with a total length of 39,000 km, prior to the launch of  the 2Africa cable system which spans approximately 45,000km connecting 46 cable landing stations in 33 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

SEA-ME-WE 3 (SMW3) cable system was supplied by ASN and Fujitsu and officially put into service on September 30, 1999.

The SMW3 Consortium comprises 92 telecom operators.

SEA-ME-WE 3 (SMW3) cable system consists of two fiber pairs in its trunk, designed with 8*STM-16 DWDM technology which was the then state-of-the-air technology when it was designed in 1996.

In 2006, 2nd 10G Upgrade was completed which increased Sea-Me-We-3 system capacity significantly.

In May 2007, Sea-Me-We-3 completed the 3rd 10G Upgrade with 48 wavelengths per fiber pair.

In December 2009, the 4th 10G Upgrade increased WDM channels from 48 to 64 per fibre pair.

In 2015, the 5th Upgrade realized capacity expansion with 100G DWDM technologies.

SEA-ME-WE 3 (SMW3) lands at the following 39 cable landing stations in 33 countries:

1. Norden, Germany
2. Oostende, Belgium
3. Goonhilly, United Kingdom
4. Penmarch, France
5. Sesimbra, Portugal
6. Tetuan, Morocco
7. Mazara del Vallo, Italy
8. Chania, Greece
9. Marmaris, Turkey
10. Yeroskipou, Cyprus
11. Alexandria, Egypt
12. Suez, Egypt
13. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
14. Djibouti, Djibouti
15. Muscat, Oman
16. Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
17. Karachi, Pakistan
18. Mumbai, India
19. Kochi, India
20. Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka
21. Pyapon, Myanmar
22. Satun, Thailand
23. Penang, Malaysia
24. Medan, Indonesia
25. Tuas, Singapore
26. Jakarta, Indonesia
27. Perth, Australia
28. Mersing, Malaysia
29. Tungku, Brunei
30. Da Nang, Vietnam
31. Batangas, Philippines
32. Taipa, Macau
33. Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
34. Shantou, China
35. Fangshan, Taiwan
36. Toucheng, Taiwan
37. Shanghai, China
38. Geoje, South Korea
39. Okinawa, Japan

For the capacity pricing, SEA-ME-WE 3 introduced an innovative Price Incentive Scheme based on the MIU*km concept. For each MIU (i.e. a 2 Mbit/s circuit as the Minimum Investment Unit) between two landing points, the price is equal to the geographical distance between these two points (subject to a minimum of 550 km and to a maximum of 10,000 km) multiplied by the unit cost for a MIU*km. For IRU purchase, the price will be at a Fixed Price of USD50 per miu*km for circuit within any segment in SEA-ME-WE 3.