March 5, 2018

PCCW Global has agreed with Mauritius Telecom to construct and maintain a high speed submarine cable connecting the Indian Ocean Islands of Rodrigues and Mauritius which will vastly improve connectivity for Rodrigues.

PCCW Global will cooperate with Huawei Marine Networks to construct the Mauritius and Rodrigues Submarine Cable System (MARS), a 700km undersea cable with a bandwidth design capacity of 16Tbit/s. MARS will be ready for service in 2019 and PCCW Global will manage operation for the cable.

With a population of approximately 40,000 people, Rodrigues is the second largest island in the Republic of Mauritius. The residents of Rodrigues will not only benefit from vastly improved bandwidth and connectivity once the new cable is live, but will also have access to a rich portfolio of digital applications, online services and content via PCCW Global’s international network.

Marc Halbfinger, Chief Executive Officer, PCCW Global, said, “This project is very exciting for us because we are using our experience gained in designing, building, and maintaining submarine cables around the world to assist another service provider, in this case Mauritius Telecom, to commission their own fully-maintained cable investment. This completely eliminates any risk in the development, maintenance and operation of what might otherwise have been a technically daunting project.”

Mr. Mike Constable, Chief Executive of Huawei Marine, said, “We are proud to collaborate with Mauritius Telecom and PCCW Global to revolutionize the broadband infrastructure of Rodrigues by providing a step-change in high speed Internet connectivity and facilitate the growth of digital communications. This is the 12th submarine cable system we have deployed in the African region, which reinforces the confidence in our technology and robust network solutions to further enable the transformation of the region’s digital economy.”