Ooredoo lands new AAE-1 global submarine cable in Qatar

Senior executives from Ooredoo gathered at Simaisma Beach in Qatar to witness the landing of the new high capacity Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) subsea cable system in Qatar.

The landmark achievement marks another important chapter in Qatar’s ongoing journey to becoming a crucial communications hub that connects the world’s major and developing economies. Ooredoo is one of the anchor members of AAE-1 project, working with international partners to strengthen global internet infrastructure and provide new routes for internet traffic.” Speaking at the event, Waleed Al-Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “The AAE-1 cable will provide people in Qatar with access to new, high-speed global routing, and faster, more reliable bandwidth. As part of our vision to continually enhance the Ooredoo Supernet, we are investing in major internet infrastructure that will enable Qatar to become one of the best-connected countries.”

AAE-1 (Asia-Africa-Europe-1) is a consortium submarine cable system linking the major internet hubs of Asia, Africa and Europe. The 25,000 km long submarine cable is the third longest and one of the highest capacity cable systems currently under deployment anywhere in the world. Ooredoo Global Services has played a key role as a consortium partner in the development of this project along with Ooredoo Qatar, Technology Unit, who took part in the project management and coordinated with local and foreign authorities to obtain the necessary permits.

Upon completion later this year, the new cable will enable high capacity towards major Internet hubs and low latency access to Europe and Asia, delivering significant benefits for customers in Qatar. The cable will also facilitate higher speed services, supporting the planned launch of 5G services in Qatar. As well as Qatar, the cable will land in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and France. In addition to supporting enhanced internet speeds and high quality voice services, the cable will provide additional protection and diversity to the world’s heavily-congested cable systems, ensuring that companies and individuals suffer less from bottlenecks or disruption caused by cable breaks.

The AAE-1 cable deploys the latest 100Gbps technology, with a design capacity of more than 40 terabits and is structured to channel traffic along the lowest latency routes. It will use diversified points of presence to increase flexibility for carriers and their customers. The AAE-1 subsea cable system is the latest and one of the most important global consortium cables to land in Qatar, and will help position the country as a major hub for telecommunications connectivity in the GCC and wider region.