All-star consortium to construct new AAE cable system
January 28, 2014
PCCW Global, an international operating division of HKT, the Hong Kong telco, and 16 other prominent service providers around the world have come together to construct a new and unique high capacity cable system, Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1). AAE-1 interconnects Hong Kong, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe with a target ready for service date in 2016.
AAE -1 will be the first high capacity cable system to link all of the major South East Asian nations to Africa and Europe via the Middle East. It will facilitate and provide support for the unprecedented growth of Asia-Africa trade. Providing robust, reliable, low latency connectivity which underpins one of the highest growth and most active global trade routes, AAE-1 will also bring much needed protection and diversity to the existing heavily congested subsea cable systems connecting the various countries along the route.
PCCW Global plans to land the cable at the Cape D’Aguilar Cable Station in Hong Kong, and then extend connectivity to its city data centre, making Hong Kong a key telecommunications hub in addition to Singapore and Marseilles in France along the AAE-1 network.
Bringing together China Unicom, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat, Omantel, Ooredoo and many other major service providers from around the world, PCCW Global hosted a signing ceremony for the Construction and Maintenance Agreement in Hong Kong on January 27th to officially mark a new chapter of the AAE-1 Project.