PM Modi launches submarine cable connectivity project between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI)
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched and dedicated to the nation, the first ever submarine (undersea) Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity between Chennai and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (CANI project) on 10 August 2020 through video conferencing.
- This state of the art project will connect Andaman & Nicobar Islands to the mainland and provide high speed broadband connections in the Union Territory at par with services in the mainland.
- The foundation stone for this 2300 Kms submarine cable project was laid by the PM on 30 December 2018 at Port Blair.
- The OFC will deliver 2x 200 Gbps between Chennai and Port Blair along with 2×100 Gbps between Port Blair and other islands. The service has already begun from Chennai to Port Blair, Port Blair to Little Andaman and Port Blair to Swaraj Island.
- Currently, the A&N are connected to the Indian mainland through satellite link with limited bandwidth capacity and high amounts of delay.
- The present satellite link capacity is merely 3.2Gbps, while the OFC would be able to provide a bandwidth of 400Gbps (over 100 times the existing capacity) at its initial stage of commissioning.