NEW DELHI and HONG KONG -- Bharti Airtel, Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider announced the commencement of operations of its Far-East Connect Network, enabling it to serve the requirements of wholesale customers in the high growth markets across Asia and the Pacific. The Far-East Connect Network is uniquely designed to meet both the expansion and the diversity needs of customers in the Asia and the Pacific region.

The Far-East Connect Network has many unique network elements that span across the region and comprises of Airtel’s network assets on multiple cables routes i2i, SMW4, APCN2, JUCN, AAG and also a proposed investment in another High Speed Network between Singapore and Japan. This would now enable Bharti Airtel to extend its reach to Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.

According to Manoj Kohli, CEO and Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, “The launch of the “Far-East Connect Network” is another step towards Bharti Airtel’s vision of making Bharti Airtel, the communication services partner of choice for global telcos. Our investments of over US$500 million over the last two years are designed to create a global network that offers unmatched resilience and maximum diversity. Asia and the Pacific represent one of the fastest growing markets for ICT and as industry leaders in India. Bharti Airtel is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this growing market opportunity.”

Through the Far-East Connect Network, Bharti Airtel will be able to deliver seamless connectivity on Asia America Gateway (AAG). Bharti Airtel is one of the leading consortium partners for this new 20,000 Rkms cable system that is now ready to carry commercial traffic. This together with a capacity upgrade by Airtel on its existing network assets on multiple cable routes, has made available an additional 1 Terabit per second of capacity to the region. This Terabit Super Express Highway will link major cable landing stations in India, HK, Japan, Singapore and across the Pacific to the United States.

Further, through a unique partnership model, Airtel has entered into partnerships for capacity and onward connectivity to Japan, Taiwan, Australia and South Korea through multiple alternate routes. The initiative is consistent with Airtel’s aim of ensuring diverse meshed cable topologies on all major routes.

Bharti Airtel’s, global wholesale portfolio offers MPLS, Ethernet, IP and International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) services to carriers in high growth markets across Asia and the Pacific. The portfolio includes solutions for voice and data connectivity, collaboration services, co-location, carrier outsourcing and content distribution through its next-generation high speed submarine and fiber network.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Mumbai: BHARTIARTL)