wiredInUSA June 2020

Cable split offers greater diversity

Google is said to be planning a new $400 million subsea cable system to connect Italy to India. Called Blue-Raman, it will be built in two halves: the first half, referred to as Blue, will stretch from Mumbai, India, across the Indian Ocean and then overland to arrive in Aqaba, Jordan. The second half, referred to as Raman, will start in Genoa, Italy, and cross the Mediterranean and Israel before landing in Aqaba to connect with the Blue section. official announcement, but Blue-Raman is expected to reach Israel by 2022 and, according to reports, TIM’s Sparkle is partnering on the Blue section, while Omantel will collaborate with Google on the Raman half. Google has made no

The cable split is for geopolitical reasons, ensuring that the Israeli section does not cross Saudi Arabia. Also, by avoiding Egypt, the system bypasses the shallowness of the Suez Canal that risks causing damage to the cable. Sunil Tagare, of the Open Cables blog, wrote: “Google’s planning of the Blue- Raman cable is the biggest news in the submarine cable industry since the start of the industry three decades ago. Not only will this cable provide the ultimate route diversity by going through Israel, it will also decrease the cost of Asia to Europe traffic by at least 50 percent.”

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wiredInUSA - June 2020