Dialog to boost Sri Lanka’s global bandwidth with new submarine cable

Dialog Axiata PLC (Dialog), Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, yesterday announced that it had entered into an agreement with the Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) Consortium to land a high capacity submarine cable at a Cable Landing Station to be located in Colombo.

Dialog’s investment in the new high speed submarine cable will trigger the single largest infusion of international bandwidth to Sri Lanka to date.

Dialog recently led Sri Lanka’s telecommunications sector into the 4G era, with the country’s first fixed 4G-LTE network being commissioned in the latter part of 2012 and South Asia’s first mobile 4G-LTE network going live in April 2013.



Commenting on Dialog’s investment in the new submarine cable, Dialog Axiata Group Chief Executive Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya said: “Dialog’s investment in a submarine cable system leads on from our aggressive commitment to deliver the fastest and most advanced telecommunications technology to Sri Lanka and to make the downstream benefits of these technologies affordable and accessible to all Sri Lankan citizens. The recent commissioning of our 4G services overlaid on our advanced 3G HSPA+ and fibre optic infrastructure reaching all districts of Sri Lanka will empower Sri Lankan consumers and businesses with the power of high speed connectivity. Our investment in a Cable Landing Station and submarine connectivity to the global internet will infuse further speed and capacity to our broadband offerings spanning enterprise, retail and wholesale solutions.”

Dialog’s international Cable Landing Station (CLS) will be commissioned in the 4th Quarter of 2014, signalling an era of abundant availability of international bandwidth to Sri Lanka’s ICT industry and broadband consumers alike. The BBG cable will link Sri Lanka and the region (spanning from Singapore to Oman/UAE) to high capacity internet hubs in Singapore and India and to onward submarine cable pipes to Europe and the USA. Other investors in the BBG consortium include Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Vodafone Group, Infotel Telecom Limited-India, Oman Telecommunications Company S.A.O.G-Oman and Emirates Telecommunications Corporation.

Commenting on the BBG investment, Azwan Khan, Group Chief Operating Officer at Dialog Axiata PLC, said: “The provision of this alternate artery will provide a tremendous boost to the overall connectivity from a Sri Lankan perspective as well as providing an affordable, economical option to all players in the Sri Lankan market who require bandwidth to function. Accessing international capacity at the lowest rates is essential for Sri Lankan enterprises to remain competitive in a global economy. The new BBG system will have open access at the CLS, which provides a state-of-the-art facility for all operators to connect to the world.  It will also bring in industry standard best practices to ensure that Sri Lanka’s access framework is aligned with regional hubs including Singapore. This kind of expansion is only possible thanks to the progressive policies put in place by the TRCSL which have enabled Sri Lanka to lead the region in innovation and infrastructure development that is on par with if not surpassing international benchmarks.”

Dialog operates one of Sri Lanka’s largest international gateway infrastructures connecting Sri Lanka’s telecommunications networks and consumers to the world via a network of over 120 Tier 1 and Tier 2 global partners for voice and connectivity services.

Dialog’s entry into the international telecommunications arena in 2003 following the liberalisation of gateway operations triggered an exponential increase in affordability and usage of IDD services, a market success the company followed up with the introduction of high speed global internet connectivity via global IP-MPLS infrastructure and peering relationships with Tier 1 partners including PCCW, Cable and Wireless, Deutsche Telekom and Telstra.

The expansion of Dialog’s international gateway operation to include a cutting edge CLS connecting a submarine cable based on the very latest 100G coherent DWDM technology will signal a quantum enhancement to Sri Lanka’s international connectivity infrastructure.