Bharti Airtel has announced to purchase the India leg of West Asia’s first privately-owned sub-sea cable operator Gulf Bridge International. The asset links the country with West Asia and Europe.
In a statement Airtel said it will also pick up significant share in the West Asia-Europe leg of Gulf Bridge’s sub-sea cable for an undisclosed amount.
It said the Gulf Bridge’s cables will add up long-term bandwidth capacity to Airtel, enabling it to cater to booming data demand across emerging markets like India and Africa.
Ajay Chitkara, director and chief executive of global voice and data business at Airtel, in a statement said, “With this, we are adding a large capacity to meet the growing demand for data and content in markets like India as well as serving the connectivity needs of global carriers and enterprise customers.”
Airtel’s international infrastructure includes i2i sub-sea cable, which connects Chennai to Singapore. It has investments in six other sub-sea cables: South East Asia-West Asia-Western Europe, Asia America Gateway, India-West Asia-Western Europe, Unity, Europe India Gateway, and East Africa Submarine System, according to its annual report.
Strategic investors in Gulf Bridge International include Qatar Foundation Knowledge Ventures, financial institution Gulf Investment Corporation and sovereign wealth funds Qatar Investment Authority, Kuwait Investment Authority, according to its website.
