Investment

Cerberus invests in Datawave's SING subsea cable project

Cerberus invests in Datawave's SING subsea cable project

Cyprus-based independent subsea infrastructure provider Datawave Networks said on Monday it has secured a deal with affiliates of investment firm Cerberus Capital Management to fund its long-planned Singapore-India-Gulf (SING) Cable System.

The SING cable system aims to create a high-capacity, low-latency route linking key digital hubs across the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Landing points are currently planned for Muscat (Oman), Kalba (UAE), Mumbai and Chennai (India), Kedah (Malaysia) and Singapore.

Datawave said the SING cable will comprise 16 fibre pairs with a minimum design capacity of 18 Tbps per pair, which it said will provide scalable, future-proofed capacity to meet accelerating regional connectivity requirements.

Under the deal with Cerberus, the investment firm will take a majority stake in Datawave and provide project financing to support the construction and deployment of the SING cable system. No financial details were disclosed.

Datawave CEO Mark Wickham said the investment will enable the company to advance the project into full execution. “This investment will allow us to move forward decisively and deliver SING as quickly as possible to secure the region’s long-term growth, especially as a number of existing cables are set to retire.”

Cerberus representative Gabriel Schulze said in a statement the SING project – which has been in development for over five years – is worth investing in due to its “unique positioning” in terms of connecting centres of substantial current and future growth, as well as its ability to provide critical route diversity along the east–west corridor.

“With anchor customer commitments already in place, we anticipate strong market adoption,” Schulze said. “The Datawave team had advanced the project over several years, and we saw a clear opportunity where our strategic and financial capabilities could accelerate SING into reality.”

Datawave also announced it has secured a supplier to design, manufacture, and deploy the cable system, although it didn’t identify the company, saying only that it is based in the US. In 2020, Datawave contracted Global Marine to do a desk top study for the project.

The SING system is now scheduled to be ready for service in 2030.



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