By Submarine Cable NewsFeed

Alcatel-Lucent and Fujitsu have announced

that they will be upgrading the capacity of the SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cable system that connects numerous countries from Singapore to France. With completion

scheduled in 2009, this multi-million dollar second upgrade project will further double the existing trunk capacity of the system, going beyond the original design

capacity, enabling SEA-ME-WE-4 to support the increased broadband traffic requirements along the route.

Owned and operated by 16 carriers, SEA-ME-WE-4 spans

nearly 20,000 km linking 14 countries from France to Singapore via Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Sri

Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia with 16 landing points. Alcatel-Lucent and Fujitsu had supplied the initial SEA-ME-WE-4 network that started commercial

operation in the fourth quarter of 2005. The network's capacity was subsequently tripled in the third quarter of 2007.

Alcatel-Lucent had the turnkey

responsibility of this state-of-the-art network from design to laying for Segments 2, 3, and 4 linking Mumbai to Marseilles, as well as the overall responsibility

for the synchronous digital hierarchy end-to-end realization. Fujitsu had the turnkey responsibility of this state-of-the-art network from design to laying for

Segment 1 linking Singapore to Mumbai.

Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will upgrade the India-France submarine link by deploying, installing

and commissioning additional dense wavelength division multiplexing equipment (DWDM), based on its 1620 Light Manager. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent will upgrade the

1626 Light Manager-based terrestrial link connecting Alexandria and Suez, and the existing SDH equipment, the Alcatel-Lucent 1678 Metro Core Connect, for this

extensive network.

Fujitsu will upgrade the Singapore-India submarine link by deploying, installing and commissioning additional dense wavelength division

multiplexing equipment (DWDM), notably its FLASHWAVE S650 for this extensive network.