NEC Corporation India (NEC India) along with NEC Corporation has successfully completed the optical submarine cable system in southern India connecting Kochi and Lakshadweep Islands.
The Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands Submarine Cable (KLI), developed under the Government of India’s ‘Digital India’ mission, was inaugurated recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He unveiled the initiative to link the Lakshadweep Islands with a submarine optical fiber cable within 1,000 days. Funded by the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), the project was executed by BSNL.
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NEC India was awarded with this project by BSNL in September 2021, completing it ahead of schedule in June 2023. Spanning approximately 1,870 km, the system offers an initial capacity of 2x100 Gbps, expandable up to 1,600 gbps per fibre pair.
The system connects Kochi with 11 Lakshadweep islands: Agatti, Androth, Amini, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kadmat, Kavaratti, Kiltan, Kalpeni, and Minicoy. Providing ample bandwidth for voice and data connectivity, the cable supports e-governance initiatives, facilitates new enterprises, and enables e-commerce facilities.
NEC has been a leading global vendor in the submarine cable system business for over 60 years, manufacturing submarine cables, submarine repeaters, and terminal station equipment, in addition to coordinating marine surveys and route design, equipment installation work, cable laying, training, and delivery testing.