His Excellency President Mohamed Nasheed has on the 6th of December, 2011, inaugurated the cable laying process under Dhiraagu Domestic Submarine Cable Network Project at H. Dh. Kulhuduffushi. The inauguration took place with the pulling of the cable ashore by the President and key dignitaries, which was laid from the submarine cable ship.

On the 15th of March, this year, Dhiraagu signed a contract with NEC Corporation to lay a Fibre Optic Submarine Cable network system from North to South across the Maldives scheduled to be delivered in 15 months.After completion of necessary surveys, and making the respective substations ready, Dhiraagu is pleased with the commencement of the cable laying process which took place yesterday as scheduled.

With Kulhuduffushi, as the starting point, Dhiraagu will continue with the process in the rest of the regions and plans to complete the cable laying process by December, 2011. Following this, Dhiraagu will proceed with cable testing and other related works.

Along with Dhiraagu’s currently established operation centres, the network will strategically include 8 regions, connecting the whole Maldives from North to South through a 1253 km length fibre optic submarine cable.

With the implementation of this project, quality of service will be significantly enhanced. It will also offer high-speed broadband internet service that will facilitate services such as e-health, telemedicine, e-government and other online services in the country, which would bring immense socio-economic benefits across the entire Maldives.

It is a significant project under the umbrella of Dhiraagu High-speed Network Rollout Program to expand Broadband Service across the country. Also under this program, Dhiraagu plans to enhance microwave network, 3G, wireless broadband services and to upgrade the internet core network. Dhiraagu has planned to invest a total of about USD 70 million over the next 5 years, to deliver this program across the entire Maldives.

Subsea World News Staff , December 07, 2011