E-marine, a leader in submarine cable installation and repair solutions in the Middle East, has completed a cable repair in the Arabian Sea, despite severe weather conditions.

Reliance Globalcom's Flag Europe-Asia (FEA) cable network provides a telecommunications link to the markets of Western Europe and Japan through the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and China.

Local services became impacted recently after a suspected repeater failure in the Fujairah branch, said a statement.

The repair was carried out in water approximately 4,000 m deep and during the recovery, the damaged cable parted at the joint between the main high tension cable and the branching unit.

Further investigation by E-marine and the on board Reliance Globalcom representative revealed previous damage to the joint and was very likely the cause of the original cable fault.

Brad Kneller, vice president at Reliance Globalcom Limited, said: “E-marine’s assigned cable ship and on-board crew worked in extreme weather conditions for the duration of the repair. The damaged cable was quickly recovered and new cable, repeater and branching unit spliced in, tested and re-laid successfully. In total the repair took approximately 40 days to complete.”

The recent growth in cable capacity in the Middle East region heralds a new era of connectivity for the continent and will bring greater bandwidth, faster and more advanced services and more reliable connectivity, but also results in more cables needing repair and maintenance. - TradeArabia News Service