Optical & Fixed Networks

Another India-Southeast Asia undersea cable on the way

Another India-Southeast Asia undersea cable on the way

Yet another India-Southeast Asia undersea cable is in the news after an announcement that a consortium plans to build a new undersea cable linking India with Malaysia and Singapore.

The consortium, which includes Microsoft and network infrastructure specialist Lightstorm as well as communications technology giant Tata Communications, telecommunications conglomerate Singapore Telecommunications, Singaporean cable system company ASEAN Cableship and Japan's NEC Corporation, says it will construct the I-2SEA cable, as it will be known, to support AI, cloud and hyperscale workloads.

The network will span 3,600 kilometres and have landing stations in Machilipatnam in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where, as Reuters points out, Meta and Alphabet have announced data centres.

The news agency has been told by Lightstorm that the cable is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2029. The size of the investment involved has not been revealed.

Lightstorm, which is backed by leading independent global infrastructure investor I Squared, currently connects 19 AI and cloud zones across India through terrestrial fibre cable networks. The new network is expected ⁠to bring this number up to 29. Lightstorm plans to list in India in ⁠mid-2027. It was apparently seeking a valuation of up to US$1.5 billion in March.

It’s certainly a busy time for cable connectivity to and from India. We reported earlier this week that Tata Communications has announced strategic investments in subsea cable infrastructure to strengthen its connectivity solutions between the emerging AI hubs of Mumbai and Chennai in India and Singapore. In fact India currently has 17 active submarine cables – with many more in the way.



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