India's Bharti Airtel has agreed to acquire the India leg of Gulf Bridge International's (GBI) India-Middle East-Europe subsea cable system
The arrangement will also see Airtel acquire significant capacity on the Middle East-Europe leg of the system.
Both companies will meanwhile collaborate on joint go to market strategies based on the footprints of their respective global networks.
GBI's subsea cable asset will complement Airtel's existing global cable network, consisting of ownership in the India-Middle East-Western Europe (I-ME-WE), Europe India Gateway (EIG), Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) and Middle EAst-North Africa (MENA) systems. The company also has significant capacity leased on various systems.
“We are delighted to announce this agreement with GBI. With this, we are adding a large capacity to meet the growing data, content demand in markets like India as well as serve the connectivity needs of global carriers and enterprise customers,” Airtel CEO for global voice and data Ajay Chitkara said.
“The agreement offers great synergies to Airtel and GBI as both partners will able to build on each other’s strengths in their respective markets. This will also complement Airtel’s existing global network spanning 250,000 route kilometers with presence in 50 countries and contribute to our vision of serving customers with a future ready network that is built on cutting-edge technology.”