Airtel investing in cable to Myanmar

India’s largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel has announced it is investing in a new fiber cable between India and Myanmar.

The operator plans to use the new fiber asset to offer end-to-end connectivity solutions in the Myanmar market.

The 6,500km terrestrial cable will connect to Airtel’s landing stations in Chennai on the east coast and Mumbai on the west.

Bharti Airtel CEO for global voice and data Ajay Chitkara told the publication that Myanmar is experiencing strong uptake of digital services as one of the last major growth frontiers in Asia, and the company aims to take advantage of that growth by introducing new connectivity services.

Myanmar liberalized its telecoms sector in 2011, resulting in a rush of foreign entrants into the market and strong subscriber growth and development.

But Telenor Myanmar, which launched services in September 2014 after securing one of two mobile licenses allocated through a tender process following the opening up of the sector, believes that the market’s hyper growth era has now ended.

News of the terrestrial cable project came as China Telecom Global and Nepal Telecom announced they have linked China and Nepal through the Himalayas and plan to use the new terrestrial cable to offer IP services to the Nepalese market.