India’s smallest union territory gets submarine connectivity

The project brings 1,868 km of undersea optic fibre cable from the mainland to Lakshadweep Islands

India’s smallest union territory will now enjoy connectivity for the first time following the government’s inauguration of an undersea cable link there.

Local news reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched the Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands Submarine Optical Fibre Connection (KLI-SOFC) project which was approved by the government in late 2020.

The project consists of a 1,868-kilometre submarine optic fibre cable connecting Lakshadweep Islands to mainland India — providing a faster internet connection to residents who have since been experiencing bandwidth constraints.

The dedicated submarine cable will vastly improve internet speeds and, in turn, facilities such as government services, medical treatment, education and digital banking, that would potentially develop Lakshadweep as a logistics hub.

Before the completion of this project, the only means of communication in the islands was through a satellite with limited bandwidth capacity and was not able to meet the growing demand.

According to the government, the bandwidth created under this project will be available to all telecom service providers to strengthen their services in the Lakshadweep Islands.

The project is funded by India’s Department of Telecommunication’s (DOT) Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF).