China Unicom Unveils AAE-1 Cable

China Unicom announced today the construction of the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) submarine cable system, and unveiled the AAE-1 cable map. The AAE-1 cable will connect 12 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Djibouti,Egypt, Greece, France. The AAE-1 cable won't land in China.

China Unicom announced the AAE-1 cable project on the China Unicom International Partners Meeting held in Shanghai today. Over 500 telecom executives, senior managements and representatives of carriers worldwide participated in this annual event to hear the voice from China telecom industry.

The AAE-1 cable was initiated by China Unicom, Telecom Egypt and other members. China Unicom and Telecom Egypt take as the co-chairs of the Management Committee of the AAE-1 Cable Consortium.

As released in the AAE-1 cable map, there are 13 cable landing stations in the AAE-1 cable system, including

1. Marseilles, France
2. Bari, Italy
3. Chania, Greece
4. Abu Talat  Egypt
5. Zafrana, Egypt
6. Djibouti, Djibouti
7. Muscat, Oman
8. Fujairah, UAE
9. Karachi, Pakistan
10. Bombay, India
11. Ngwe Saung,  Myanmar
12. Pontian Kechil, Malaysia  
13. Singapore 

The AAE-1 cable consortium consists of China Unicom, Telecom Egypt and other members. The investment is expected to be around $600 million.

The AAE-1 cable won't land in mainland China.The leading party China Unicom released meanwhile another aggressive project to construct the China-Myanmar interneation (CMI) terrestrial cable system, which spans about 1500 km connecting Ruili, China and Ngwe Saung,  Myanmar. The CMI cable will be seamlessly connected with the AAE-1 cable at the Ngwe Suang cable landing station.

With this innovative solution, the AAE-1 cable  will enable the shortest submarine cable route from China to South Asia and westwards to Africa and Europe.

The AAE-1 cable consortium is still on the way to finalize the cable landing stations, and even enrolls additional members. Any way, the AAE-1 cable project has been inaugurated and the project seems quite positive and  leads ahead smoothly.