SRG-1 Consortium Selected Xtera for Building a New Subsea Cable System across the Gulf of Oman


KARACHI, PAKISTAN, MUSCAT, SULTANATE OF OMAN, and DALLAS, TEXAS, USA, May 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Multinet Pakistan, the leading domestic and international carrier in Pakistan, Omantel, the national operator of Oman and one of the largest wholesale carriers in the Middle East, and Xtera Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:XCOM), a leading provider of high-capacity, cost-effective optical transport solutions, today announced the signing of the turnkey supply agreement for the new subsea cable system Silk Route Gateway 1 (SRG-1).  The new cable will be a direct highway from Muscat in Oman to Karachi in Pakistan, with a future extension to Gwadar in Pakistan.

"The SRG-1 project is our ambition to restore the significance of the traditional silk route by establishing a digital gateway to the most budding telecom markets of the Asian subcontinent”, said Mr. Rashid Shafi (SEVP & Chief Strategy Officer, Multinet Pakistan).  “This new cable will fuel the massively growing demands of the Pakistani market and will bring up an unprecedented reach to China, Afghanistan and Central Asia,” he further added.

Mr. Sohail Qadir, Vice President, Omantel Wholesale, commented: “SRG-1 is another reflection of our commitment to the global carrier community to offer them with the most efficient routes.  The SRG-1 bridges Asia to Africa and the West through a low latency network and we anticipate this to evolve as the telecom world’s primary access to the region.”

“Selecting an innovative technology partner like Xtera is imperative to the overall success of the project.  Xtera brings onboard the expertise and professional pedigree to develop an efficient optical submarine network which will enable Multinet and Omantel to offer cutting edge connectivity services to their customers,” SRG-1 Consortium commented.

Xtera will supply its turnkey 100G/100G+ optimized submarine system solution for this new project, including Nu-Wave OptimaTM Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE), undersea optical repeaters, undersea branching units, cable, all marine services, project management, installation and commissioning.

“We are delighted to be selected by SRG-1 Consortium to build this new submarine cable system as a further validation of our turnkey offering for high-performance, high-reliability subsea cable systems,” said Jon Hopper, President and Chief Executive Officer of Xtera.  “This new build project represents a second cable project for Xtera in the region after the award of the G2A subsea cable system between Oman, Puntland and Somaliland, and the second opportunity to deploy our branching unit after its official launch at SubOptic 2016 Conference in Dubai in April 2016.”

About Multinet
Multinet Pakistan, an Axiata Group Subsidiary, is a leading domestic as well as international data & voice services provider.  Being the “Trusted Infostructure Partner in the Region”, Multinet is known for its reliable connectivity solutions on its 12,000 km long self-healing and scalable optical fiber network covering over 110 cities of Pakistan.

Multinet excels at addressing the diversified connectivity requirements of its patrons and partners through its extensive nationwide network, overarching footprint of international PoPs and terrestrial extensions into neighboring countries.  Multinet's comprehensive solutions portfolio, remarkable enterprise market share, a team of highly skilled telecom professionals and exemplary support services make it “The Partner of Choice” for the top Global Carriers who have expressed unwavering confidence in doing bilateral business with Multinet for over a decade now. For more information, please contact info@silkroutegateway-1.com.

About Omantel
Omantel is internationally regarded as the leading wholesale and IP Transit provider in the Middle East.  Oman’s strategic geographical location, as the entry point into the Middle East, and the company’s unrivalled international network capabilities has made Omantel the preferred interconnection point for all major cable systems and carriers from Asia, Africa and Europe passing through the Middle East.

As a transparent, independent and collaborative force in the marketplace, Omantel offers a comprehensive one-stop-shop portfolio of optimum low-latency high-capacity solutions to carriers and content providers, while serving some of the most challenging markets in the West Asian and African regions.

For more information, please contact Mohammed Al Salmi (Senior Manager Corporate Communications) | + 968 24244658 | mohamed.salmi@omantel.om

About Xtera Communications, Inc.
Xtera Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:XCOM) is a leading provider of high-capacity, cost-effective optical transport solutions, supporting the high growth in global demand for bandwidth.  Xtera sells solutions to telecommunications service providers, content service providers, enterprises and government entities worldwide.  Xtera’s proprietary Wise RamanTM optical amplification technology leads to capacity and reach performance advantages over competitive products.  Xtera’s solutions enable cost-effective capacity to meet customers’ bandwidth requirements of today and to support their increasing bandwidth demand fueled by the development of data centers and related cloud-based services.

For more information, visit www.xtera.com, contact info@xtera.com or connect via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.



            

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