SEA-ME-WE3

the transcontinental submarine cable SEA-ME-WE3

On January 16, 1997, Djibouti Telecom SA was one of the 93 telecommunications operators who signed in Singapore the construction of SEA-ME-WE-3.

With a length of 39000 Km, SEA-ME-WE-3 is the longest transcontinental submarine cable in the world, it connects 4 continents (Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania) and 33 countries. It can put in touch simultaneously about half a million people distant 1000 Km. The SEA-ME-WE-3 was officially put into service on September 30, 1999.

Its initial capacity of 40 Gb/s allows it to have a capacity 40 times higher than the SMW-2 using the principle of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) Technology with Synchronous Technology Digital Hierarchy (SDH). In 2015, the system has been upgraded (Upgrade #5) to the latest upgradable 100Gbps technology enabling initial system capacity of 1.3 Tbps passing through Djibouti station.