SEA-ME-WE 5

South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5) is an optical fibre submarine communications cable system that carries telecommunications between Singapore and France.^[5]

SEA-ME-WE 5

Cable type	Submarine Fibre-optic
Predecessor	SEA-ME-WE, SEA-ME-WE 2, SEA-ME-WE 3, SEA-ME-WE 4[1]
Successor	SEA-ME-WE 6
Construction beginning	24 September 2014[2]
Construction finished	15 December 2016[3]
Design capacity	36.6 Tbit/s (12.2 Tbit/s per fiber pair)[4]
Area served	South East Asia, Middle East Asia, Western Europe
Owner(s)	Consortium
Website	seamewe5.com

The cable is approximately 20,000 kilometres long and provides broadband communications with a design capacity of 24 Tbit/s (over 3 fiber pairs) between South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Europe.^[6]

The portion from France to Sri Lanka was constructed by Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (ASN) and the portion from Sri Lanka to Singapore by NEC.^[7] Construction commenced on 6 June 2014 and completed in December 2016.^[1][8][5] An official launch event was held in Honolulu, Hawaii on 16 January 2017.^[9]

The design capacity was upgraded from 24 Tbit/s to 36.6 Tbit/s in September 2019 using Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme 300G technology.^[10]

Landing points and operators

SEA-ME-WE 5 Cable Landing Points

Location	Operator & Technical Partner
Toulon, France	Orange S.A.[11]
Catania, Italy	Telecom Italia Sparkle[12]
Marmaris, Turkey	Turk Telekom[13]
Abu Talat, Egypt Zafarana, Egypt	Telecom Egypt[14]
Yanbu, Saudi Arabia	Saudi Telecom Company[15]
Al Hudaydah, Yemen	TeleYemen[16]
Haramous CLS, Djibouti	Djibouti Telecom[17]
Qalhat, Oman	Ooredoo Oman[18]
Fujairah, UAE	du EITC[19]
Karachi, Pakistan	Transworld Associates[20]
Matara, Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka Telecom[21]
Ngwe Saung, Myanmar	Myanma Posts and Telecommunications[22]
Kuakata, Bangladesh	Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited[22]
Medan, Indonesia Dumai, Indonesia	Telkom Indonesia[23]
Malacca, Malaysia	Telekom Malaysia Berhad[24]
Tuas, Singapore	Singtel[25]

Incidents

November 2022

In November 2022, it was reported that SEA-ME-WE 5 was damaged on land near one of its landing stations in Egypt. This caused significant traffic disruptions lasting several hours to many countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.^[26][27]

Main route

April 2024

In April 2024, the SEA-ME-WE 5 cable developed a fault in the Strait of Malacca due to water penetrating the insulation of the cable, causing a short circuit which led to a complete loss of communication. As a result, connectivity was lost between Kuakata, Bangladesh and the final landing point in Tuas, Singapore. The fault led to Bangladesh losing 1.7 Tbps of international capacity, reducing the country’s internet capacity by approximately a third.^[28]

The cable was reported to have been repaired on June 28,^[29] following lengthy delays related to Indonesia's preferential cabotage policy and administrative procedures.^[30]

See also

• SEA-ME-WE 6