The South Africa Far East (SAFE) transnational optic fibre submarine cable project has reached Kerala with the arrival of a cable ship at the Cherai Beach near Kochi. Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) would be implementing the project in India.

The land cable from Beach-head to VSNL’s international gateway at Kakkanadu has already been laid. The cable ship would lay cable up to nine kms into the sea. This cable will connect Mauritius in the west and Penang in the east. This connection is expected to be ready by May 2001, while the whole project will be commissioned by the end of 2001.

The SAFE cable project envisages linking South Africa with the Far East through submarine optic fibre cables. The project is being brought to India via a landing station at Kochi. The submarine cable, running between India and Africa, with extensions to the UK and the USA, is expected to bring about 80 GB of bandwidth to India.