Reliance Jio Infocom, the telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani Group's Reliance Industries (RIL), has received environmental clearance to build the Indian part of the 20,000 km submarine cable linking Africa to South Asia. The Asia Africa Europe One (AAE-1) cable system is being built by a consortium of 17 global telecom service providers.
"The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under the ministry has granted CRZ approval to Reliance Jio Infocom's project that envisages landing of the AAE-I submarine cable system at Versova beach in Mumbai," a senior official from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) was quoted as saying by PTI.
"The EAC, after deliberation, recommended granting approval to the project under the CRZ Notification, 2011, subject to following conditions," as per the minutes of the EAC meeting held recently, PTI added. CRZ refers to Coastal Regulation Zone.
Reliance Jio will spend about $6 million for building the Indian part of the project that is claimed as the largest sub-sea cable connecting Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France. The cable will terminate at Versova Beach in Mumbai, according to Reliance Jio's application filed with the MoEFCC on 10 September, 2015.
The proposed AAE-1 cable system is to be completed by the end of 2016 and is meant to increase telecom connectivity, create additional capacity and speed for international traffic.
The PTI report also said Reliance Jio has chosen the Versova Beach since Europe India Gateway (EIG) Submarine Cable Landing by Bharti Airtel and Gulf Bridge International Cable System (GBICS) Submarine Cable Landing by Sifi Technologies are present at the location.
Vodafone South's project, "Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) Submarine Cable System Landing" was also also granted CRZ clearance from the MoEFCC recently.
Reliance Jio holds spectrum in1800 MHz (across 14 circles) and 2300 MHz (across 22 circles) capable of offering fourth generation (4G) wireless services. The company intends to provide seamless 4G services using FDD-LTE on 1800 MHz and TDD-LTE on 2300 MHz, it said in its application to the MoEFCC.
The Reliance Industries stock was up 2.69% and closed at Rs 1,051.55 on Monday on the BSE.
The stock ended at an 18-month high even as the S&P BSE Sensex closed at a 19-month low of 24,825.
