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Bringing the world to your doorstep
To achieve success in the existing business climate, you need reliable global connectivity. And for that, you need several connectivity options so that if one system crashes, you may fall back on others.
Keeping this in mind, a bandwidth provider has designed Pakistan’s first private sector submarine fibre-optic cable system called Transworld-1 (TW-1). The aim of this initiative is to offer global end-to-end connectivity solutions through a state-of-the-art network, according to the bandwidth provider.
The aforementioned fibre-optic cable system is the third one for Pakistan, after two similar ones which belong the SEAMEWE series. This means that the country now has adequate standby capacity/redundancy to deal with any future connectivity problems.
This is a vast improvement on the situation last year when between June 27 and July 8 Pakistan’s sole cable link with the outside world was snapped, resulting in an internet breakdown throughout the country.
Transworld Associates Limited — the organisation behind the project — claims that the new cable system has been designed to provide high availability and to ensure minimal error rate, thus empowering the users to enjoy reliable international connectivity.
The TW-1 cable system connects Karachi to Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The segment is installed with a single Power Switched Branching Unit. A branch segment leads to Al Seeb, Sultanate of Oman. In November of 2005, TW-1 cable shore ends were successfully landed by an e-marine cable ship CS Etisalat at Fujairah, UAE, Al Seeb, Sultanate of Oman, and Karachi.
It’s always a difficult task to sell the concept of such a big project to financial institutions. The same happened with this privately owned submarine fibre-optic cable system. Since there was no precedence of such financing, it was difficult to explain the project’s technical features to financiers so that they could decide whether or not to take the plunge.
Eventually, financing became possible due to a very clear understanding developed by the lead arranger and the financiers’ confidence in the strength of the project’s sponsors, namely Orascom Telecom Holding and the Saif Group of Companies, according to a senior official of the Transworld Associates Limited.
The project was further strengthened as a result of the personal investment made by Dr Omar Zawawi of the Premier Business Group in Oman and by the keen interest shown by the special adviser for external liaison to Sultan Qaboos of Oman.
“This cable system complements the systems already in existence, but in a very special and independent way,” claimed Iftikhar Aziz Chaudhary, the chief financial officer of Transworld Associates. “It is an alternative to the telecom sector in Pakistan so that the impact of any fault or cut to the fibre-optic cable would be next to nothing and the serious effects of cable damage felt in the past would not take place again,” he remarked.
“It’s encouraging to note that our institutions, together with support from the government of Pakistan, are already taking on more innovative and Greenfield projects. Our project is a healthy sign of increasing confidence in Pakistan’s economy and our expected future growth,” added Mr Chaudhary.
When asked if the rates for TW-1 compared favourably with the ones offered by companies in India, Kamran Malik, president and chief operating officer of Transworld Associates, said: “Our rates are higher than the Indian undersea cable system because India has achieved a senior level position in the
communications industry and we, being the first private company to launch the undersea cable system in Pakistan, can’t compete with Indians in providing lower rates to our clients.
“But still it is a positive sign for the communications industry in Pakistan that by creating TW-1, the private corporate sector has taken a wonderful initiative towards bringing Pakistan closer to the other countries of the world.” He added that undersea cable systems were a strategic national asset and a key ingredient for growth in a country’s telecom and IT sector.
“As international traffic from Pakistan is growing rapidly, there is an urgent need for reliable international connectivity and the TW-1 will fulfil this need. The TW-1 cable is a 1,250 kilometres long, state-of-the-art, 1.28 terabit per second DWDM system.”
He pointed out that the TW-1 system was the first one in the country which was designed, developed and built by a Pakistani company and added that over $50 million had been invested in the project. The system held strategic importance and was an alternative route to other cables in Pakistan, thus providing greater choice.
While speaking about his company’s expansion plans, he said many more cables could be laid to cater to the increasing demand in the country. He claimed that his company would offer compensation if the cable developed a fault.
At the inauguration ceremony of the TW-1 system last week, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said: “The commissioning of this cable means much more than collective engineering excellence. It is connecting Pakistan to the rest of the world, which translates itself into social, economic, political and corporate promises. Keeping all this in view the government has formulated bold and futuristic policies that offer maximum opportunities to the private sector and create conductive environment for public-private partnerships.”
Federal Minister for Information Technology, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, who was present on the occasion, felt that the event was a historic one. He said: “The TW-1 undersea fibre-optic cable would provide the much-needed diversity and redundancy in connecting Pakistan with the rest of the world.”
Maj-Gen (R) Shahzada Alam Malik, chairman of the Pakistan Transworld Associates, said the provision of modern facilities like fast and reliable international connectivity through submarine fibre-optic cables would effectively contribute towards improving the performance of local communications industry and related sectors.
Meanwhile, while talking about communications technology, a very important question comes to mind which is about the National Access Point (NAP). NAP is required to handle communications problems during difficult situations, such as war. For instance, if international connections are broken down due to any reason, then there must be a NAP for continued interaction within the country.
“Orascom Telecom, a share holder of Transworld, is currently working on this project and we will soon be able to achieve NAP in our country to connect all cities of Pakistan,” explained Omar Khalid, marketing director of Transworld Associates. On the importance of satellite backup, he said: “In difficult situations, such as war, it is not advisable to remain out of touch with the rest of the world and for that reason satellite backup is important.
“In our country, a few satellite backups are already available. But I think that a fibre-optic system is more reliable as compared to a satellite system.” Regarding India’s overall performance in the field of technology, he said: “We don’t lack skills and talent but India has captured the industry because it has a bigger market and their rates are lower as they have the advantage of possessing a huge number of customers.
“But we have considered the demand of competition and are trying to lower the rates to enhance our market. It is my firm belief that within a few years we will be able to make inroads in the international market,” he said.
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