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SEA-ME-WE 4 Cable System
   

 

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Reference

Transatlantic Submarine Cables
 

 

 

The First Transatlantic cable was completed on 5th August 1858 to carry telegraph traffic between North America and Europe . This cable was owned by the businessman Cyrus Field.

           

First telegraph passed through the cable was a letter of congratulation from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to the President of the United States James Buchanan on August 16.

         

This cable destroyed after one month of operation due to the excessive voltage applies to the cable in order to achieve faster telegraph operation.

         

Subsequent attempts in 1865 and 1866 were more successful than the first cable.
 
 
 
  • 1st transatlantic cable
    5th August 1858
 
 
   
 
 

The history of TAT Series Cables

 

 

 

TAT series of cables are submarine cable systems laid to carry telephone traffic under the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe .

TAT-14 is the latest cable of the TAT series. All these TAT-n cables are planned installed and operates by carrier consortia.
 
 
 

  • TAT- 14, is the latest cable
 
 
 
 
 

TAT-1 (Transatlantic No. 1)
 

 

 

 

TAT-1 was the first cable of the TAT series. The cable ran 2240 miles between Gallanach Bay , near Oban, Scotland and Clarenville , Newfoundland .

 

Project started in 1955 and commissioned on September 25, 1956.  The initial capacity of the cable was 36 telephone channels and later it was expanded to 48 channels by narrowing the original 4 kHz channels to 3 kHz. Later, an additional 3 channels were added by use of C Carrier equipment.

 

During the first 24 hours of public service, there were 588 London-US calls and 119 from London to Canada .

 

Developments in coaxial cable, polyethylene insulation replacing gutta percha, very reliable vacuum tubes for the submerged repeaters and general improvement in carrier equipment made TAT-1 possible.

 

Total cost of the project was £120 million. 40% of the cost was invested by General Post Office (UK), 50% was invested by American Telephone and Telegraph and remaining 10% was invested by Canadian Overseas Telecommunications Corporation.  

 

TAT-1 had two main cables, one for each direction of transmission. Cables were laid in three segments, two shallow water segments and one central deep water segment of 1500 nautical miles continuously.

 

51 repeaters were used in the central section; two repeaters are 37 nautical miles apart. These repeaters were designed by Bell Laboratories.

 

The armored coaxial cable was manufactured in a factory in south east London , England .

Majority of the cable laying work was done by the cable ship Monarch during the summers of 1955 and 1956.

TAT-1 was finally retired in 1978.
 
  • Project started in 1955
 
 
 
 
  • Developments in coaxial cable
 
 
 
 
  • TAT-1, had two main cables
 
 
 
 
 
  • Cable laying work was done by the cable ship, "Monarch" during the summers of 1955 and 1956.
 
 
   
  Memories of TAT-1
   
   
   
Coaxial Cable
1858-66AtlanticCables
Cable ashore at Carnesville Canada
Monarck Cable ship 

 

     A: Outer Plastic sheath

     B: Copper screen

     C: inner dielectric insulator

     D: Copper core

 

 		     
 
 
  TAT-2 to TAT- 7
 

 

TAT-2 to TAT -7 all are coaxial cables
 
 
   
  TAT-8
 

 

TAT-8 was the 8th Transatlantic Telephone cable in the series. Also this was the first Optical Fiber cable on the North Atlantic route.

  TAT-8 initially carried 40,000 telephone circuits (simultaneous calls) between USA , England and France .

TAT-8 had two service fiber pairs with the capacity of 280 Mbps each and another fiber pair with similar capacity was available for back-up purposes [(2+1)*280 Mbps]. Signals on each fiber were fully regenerated in equipment placed in pressure housings separated by about 40 km.

Cable capacity filled in 1990 six times faster than the expected as in 2000.

The system was built in 1988 at a cost of US$335M and retired from service in 2002.
 
 
 
 
 
  • TAT-8 was the first Optical Fiber cable on the North Atlantic route
 
 
 
 
 
  TAT-9, TAT-10 & TAT-11
   
 

 

TAT-9, TAT-10 and TAT-11 all are optical fiber cables, each having (2+1)*565 Mbps of PDH capacity.

 
 
  TAT-12/13
   

 

 

Two cables TAT-12 and TAT-13 are considered together. They are the first TAT cables to operate in self-healing SDH ring topology.

 

TAT-12/13 offers (2+2)*5 Gbps of SDH capacity between Green Hill, Shirley NY, England and France .

 

TAT-12/13 use EDFA optical amplifiers with a repeater separation of about 45 km.

 

TAT-12/13 cables entered into service in 1996 and still in operation.1996 and still in operation.

 
  • TAT-12 and TAT-13 are the first TAT cables to operate, in self-healing SDH ring topology.
 
 
 
  • TAT-12/13, layed in 1996 and still in operation.
 
 
  TAT-14
   
 

TAT-14 is the 14th of the transatlantic telephone cable system, commissioned on 21st of March 2001.

 

Landing points: Blaabjerg ( Denmark ), Norden ( Germany ), Katwijk ( Netherlands ), St. Valéry (France), Bude-Haven (UK), Tuckerton (US) and Manasquan (US).

 

The cable system is a dual, bi-directional ring utilizing DWDM multiplexing to carry 64 x STM-64 protected circuits, i.e 640 Gbps. The system also utilizes reverse direction protection switching in the event of failure of the service fiber.

This configuration provides a capability of transporting 4,096 STM-1's or approximately 9,700,000 circuits across the ocean.

 

Total length of the cable is 15,428 km.

 
  • The cable system is a dual, bi-directional ring utilizing DWDM multiplexing to carry 64 x STM-64 protected circuits, i.e 640 Gbps.
 
 
 
 
  • Capability of transporting 4,096 STM-1's or approximately 9,700,000 circuits across the ocean.
 
 
 
 
  SEA-ME-WE Cable Systems
   
  South East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe
   
 

 

Family of South East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe cable systems started in 1985 with traditional FDMA analog technology to
connect the three zones. Along with technological development in fiber optical cables and digital technology, the first fiber optical system in
this region – SEA-ME-WE 2 cable system was put in to the service. However within a matter of a few years, operators in the region
realized that there was a capacity bottle-neck in these regions due to rapid demand of internet & IP based services. So WDM technology was
introduced for SEA-ME-WE 3 cable system. After few years SEA-MEWE 4 cable system was commissioned with DWDM having wavelengths
at 10G, high reliability and outstanding performances. Currently SEAME-WE 3 and SEA-ME-WE 4 Cable systems are in operation. SEA-MEWE
4 cable system has been started its service at the end of 2005 and it is not yet fully loaded. However, compared to the other regions of
the world, still there is a bottle-neck in capacity in connecting South East Asia to Western Europe through Middle East.

* SEA-ME-WE 1- PDH Analog Coaxial - decommissioned
* SEA-ME-WE 2 – PDH First Fiber Optic system in this region -
decommissioned
* SEA-ME-WE 3 – SDH WDM Optical Fiber Cable system
* SEA-ME-WE 4 – SDH DWDM Optical Fiber Cable system
* SEA-ME-WE 5?

 
 
 
 
 
 
  • Family of South East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe cable
    systems started in 1985
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Summary of SEA-ME-WE Cable Systems
   
 

 

  SEA-ME-WE 1 SEA-ME-WE 2 SEA-ME-WE 3 SEA-ME-WE 4
Commissioned in June 1985
(Decommissioned
June 1999)		 October 1994
(Decommissioned
October 2006)		 August 1999 November 2005
Capacity/Length 12MHz
13,500km		 2x560Mbps
18,000km		 8x2.5Gbps
39,000km		 64x2x10Gbps
20,000km
No. of Owners
Total Investment		 22
USD800M		 52
USD800M		 92
USD1500M		 16
USD500M
Technology Analog/Copper PDH/Optical SDH/WDM/Optical SDH/DWDM/Optical

 
 
  SEA-ME-WE 1 Cable System
   
 

 

SEA-ME-WE 1 cable system was the first consortium cable system in the Indian Ocean region. When the project was launched it was named
as “South East Asia – Middle East –Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE) Submarine Cable System”. It was automatically converted to “SEAME-
WE 1” along with the requirement of another cable system was evolved in the same route.

Twenty two telecommunication administrations from 21 countries invested for this Cable System. It was connecting Singapore to France
via Indian Ocean. Total investment is around S$800M.

The cable project was divided in 8 segments naming A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. The project started on February 1984 and commissioned in
June 1986. Total length of the cable system was 13,500km. Manufacturer: NEC Japan, ALCATEL France.

Segment A - Singapore – Medan Indonesia - 641km Segment B - Medan Indonesia - Colombo Sri Lanka - 2,638km
Segment C - Sri Lanka – Djibouti – 4,326km Segment D - Djibouti – Jeddh Saudi Arabia –1,443km

Segment E - Saudi Arabia – Suez Egypt - 1,293km Segment F - Suez – Alexandria Egypt – 390km Segment G - Alexandria Egypt to
Palermo –Italy – 1,908km Segment H - Palermo Italy to Marseille – France – 946km

Separate contracts were signed with concerned Owners with particular Suppliers for the above 8 Segments. For example for Segment B, (from
Medan, Indonesia to Colombo, SriLanka), INDOSAT - Indonesia,GOSL (represented by SL Department of Telecommunications),
Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TELCOMS) signed a separate contract with NEC

Corporation Japan for Segment B. The Cost of the Contract for Segment B: JEN 13,974,279,235. Conventional coaxial cables were
used to transport analog signals. Multiple access method used was Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). The Capacity was
measured with number of 4kHz BW channels. The cable system was decommissioned June 1999.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • SEA-ME-WE 1 cable system was the first consortium cable system in the Indian Ocean region.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • Twenty two telecommunication administrations from 21 countries
 
 
 
 
 
  SEA-ME-WE 2 Cable System
   
 

 

SEA-ME-WE 2 cable system was the second consortium cable system in the Indian Ocean region and it was
the first fiber optical cable system in the region. Owners of the SEA-MEWE 2 Cable system counted sixty (60) from all public and private
telecommunication administrations from forty seven (47) countries. It was directly connected 13 countries (Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
India, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Cypress, Turkey, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France) on three continents.

The Project was commenced in 1988 and it was completed after six years in June 1994. Total investment is
around S$800M. At that time it was the longest fiber optic undersea cable system ever laid. It was around
18,000 kilometers long. For the easiness of project management and maintenance, the cable system was
divided in to seven Segments.

Fiber optical cables with regenerative repeaters were used to transport digital signals. Multiple access method used was Time
Division Multiple Access (TDMA) with PDH technology. Transmission wavelength is 1.55 nm at 565 Mbps per pair of fibers.

The Cable System was Decommissioned on October 2006 after 12 years of service.
 
  SEA-ME-WE 3 Cable System
   
 

 

SEA-ME-WE 3 is the third cable system in SEA-ME-WE Series. In November 1997 C&MA was signed by 92 International
telecommunication administrations. The project was completed in end 2000. It includes 39 landing points in 33 countries and 4 continents from
Germany to Australia. At the period of commencing the project, it was the longest undersea cable system everlaid. It is around 39,000km long.

WDM technology was introduced with 8 wavelengths at 2.5Gbps per lambda. The cable consists of two fiber pairs. After several years in
operation, Consortium members decided to upgrade certain paths to 10Gbps.

Submarine cable has 7 segments linking Singapore to France. Landing Points of SEA-ME-WE 3 Cable System.

Belgium - Goonhilly, England, UK
- Penmarch, France - Sesimbra,
Portugal - Tetuan, Morocco -
Mazara, Italy - Chania, Greece -
Marmaris, Turkey -Yeroskipos,
Cyprus -Alexandria, Egypt - Suez,
Egypt - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia -
Djibouti, Djibouti - Muscat, Oman -
Fujairah, United Arab Emirates -
Karachi, Pakistan - Mumbai, India -
Cochin, India -Mount Lavinia, Sri
Lanka -Pyapon, Myanmar -Satun,Thailand - Penang, Malaysia -
Medan, Indonesia - Tuas, Singapore
-Jakarta, Indonesia - Perth,
Australia -Mersing, Malaysia -
Tungku, Brunei -Danang, Vietnam
- Batangas, Philippines -Taipa,
Macau - Deep Water Bay, Hong
Kong -Shantou, China - Fengshan,
Taiwan - Toucheng, Taiwan -
Shanghai, China -Keoje, South
Korea - Ok inawa, Japan

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • SEA-ME-WE 3, is the third cable system in SEA-ME-WE Series. In November 1997 C&MA was signed by 92 International
    telecommunication administrations.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  SEA-ME-WE 4 Cable System
 

 

SEA-ME-WE 4 is the forth cable system in the SEA-ME-WE cable family. The SEA-ME-WE 4 Scale
System is owned by the Consortium of sixteen (16) Telecommunication Administrations. The cable system is
connected 16 landing points in fourteen countries in the three continents.

MOU Signing 4th September 2002 with 14 Administrations. And finally 16 administrations signed a C&MA
on 27th March 2004 in Dubai. On the same day the SEA-ME-WE 4 Consortium singed Supply Contract
with M/s Alcatel, France and M/s Fujitsu.

 

  • Total length of system 20,000km
  • Two fiber pairs

1)Omnibus Fiber between Branch Cable Stations

2)Express Fiber Between Full Fiber Cable Stations

  • 64 Lambdas per fiber pair
  • 10Gbps per Lambda
  • Total capacity – 2x64x10 =1.28Tbps

 

SEA-ME-WE 4 Submarine Cable System contains two fiber pairs expanding around 20,000km.Initially 16 lambdas were lit at a bit
rate of 10Gbps per lambda. The system is designed to accommodate 64 lambdas per fiber pair and hence ultimate capacity is 1.28Tbps. The
system provides interfaces from STM-1 o/e to STM-64 or direct 10Gbps direct wavelength access.

Sri Lanka Telecom is the only operator in Sri Lanka to have International Connectivity through International Submarine Systems.
Also SLT involved all the SEA-MEWE submarine cable systems.

Landing Points:

  • Marseilles, France
  • Annaba, Algeria
  • Bizerte, Tunisia
  • Palermo, Italy
  • Alexandria, Egypt
  • Suez, Egypt
  • Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
  • Karachi, Pakistan
  • Mumbai, India
  • Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • Chennai, India
  • Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • Satun, Thailand
  • Melaka, Malaysia
  • Tuas, Singapore

 
 
 
 
 
 
  • SEA-ME-WE 4 is the forth cable system in the SEA-ME-WE cable family. The SEA-ME-WE 4 Scale
    System is owned by the Consortium of sixteen (16) Telecommunication Administrations.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • SEA-ME-WE 4 Submarine Cable System contains two fiber pairs expanding around 20,000km
 
 
 
 
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