Türk Telekom builds submarine cable station at Marmaris

Ahmet Can - MARMARİS

Türk Telekom has built a high-capacity submarine data network at the Aegean resort town of Marmaris as a part of a $700-million project.

The SEA-ME-WE-5 project will connect 17 countries, including Turkey, to a system that stretches for more than 20,000 kilometers between Asia and Europe, according to company representatives. 

A total of six ships are working to pave the cables now, they have said. 

The construction of the system, which connects countries on three continents, including Singapore, India, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Italy and France, started in 2014 and is planned to be completed by November 2016.

Türk Telekom Business Unit CEO Mehmet Ali Akarca said Türk Telekom International became the first and only Turkish company to participate in the SEA-ME-WE-5 consortium in 2015. 

“With the launch of Marmaris Station, we have connected Turkey to a fiber network that stretches for more than 20,000 kilometers between 17 countries, including France and Singapore,” he noted. 

This project will establish an infrastructure that strengthens Turkey’s digital communication with the world and meets its increased data demand with a cable system designed with a capacity of 24 Terabytes per second, he added. 

“Besides, we will add an undersea route to our strong land cable system thanks to the SEA-ME-WE-5 fiber system,” he also said.

Akarca added, “Türk Telekom aims to make Turkey the region’s data center and continues to lead the sector with our investments and partnerships. The submarine cable system has a very strategic role in intercontinental data transfer at a time when data traffic is increasing constantly. In the future, we will have 75 times more mobile devices compared to the number of ones we use today. Data use is expected to increase 1,000 times. Thus, it will only be possible to meet this demand by wiring up the country from all across the land and also under the sea.”