Tata Communications integrates TGN-IA2 cable in 2025

Why subsea cables are back in focus

Tata Communications has put undersea fibre infrastructure in the spotlight on two fronts. The company has sought intervention from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to engage diplomatic channels for repair work on undersea fibre-optic cables in the Red Sea. Separately, it has announced the integration of a new submarine cable system, TGN-IA2, into its existing network fabric.

Together, the developments underline a core reality of global connectivity. Capacity additions matter, but so does the ability to maintain existing routes, especially where cable repair activity can be affected by geopolitical and operational constraints. For enterprise networks and internet backbones, outages and constrained routes can quickly translate into congestion and higher latency.

What Tata Communications asked the DoT to do

Tata Communications sought DoT intervention to use diplomatic channels for undertaking repair of undersea fibre-optic cables in the Red Sea. The company’s request points to the practical challenges around subsea cable maintenance in sensitive maritime corridors.

While the company did not provide repair timelines or specific cable identifiers in the material shared, the request itself signals that restoration work can depend on permissions, access, and coordination beyond commercial operators. For telecom networks, repair delays can stress traffic flows across alternate routes.

TGN-IA2 integration: what the company announced

In June 2025, Tata Communications said it integrated TGN-IA2, a new submarine cable system built by the Asia Direct Cable (ADC) consortium, into its network fabric. The ADC consortium mentioned includes Singtel, SoftBank, China Telecom and China Unicom.

Tata Communications positioned TGN-IA2 as different from traditional consortium-built systems. It said the system would offer flexibility and scalability, enabling faster provisioning and business readiness for customers. The company also said the integration would enhance connectivity between Asia and regions including the US, Europe, West Asia and Africa.

Routes and connectivity footprint highlighted

Tata Communications said TGN-IA2 is built to deliver seamless connectivity, scalable bandwidth solutions, and high-capacity data transfer across multiple routes. It added that customers including enterprises, hyperscalers, and service providers would be able to leverage diverse and resilient connectivity solutions from a single provider in their intra-Asia networks.

The company also stated that TGN-IA2 would integrate with its existing assets to facilitate connectivity solutions from Asia into key geographies including the US, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and India. Separately, Tata Communications described the cable as connecting Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, and complementing its existing TGN-IA cable system by offering interconnections to other regions.

Control over capacity: the “half-a-fibre pair” detail

A key operational detail disclosed was that half-a-fibre pair in the system is fully operated and managed by Tata Communications. The company said this allows it to independently manage capacity upgrades and provide faster provisioning for customers.

In subsea systems, operational control and provisioning flexibility can be a differentiator, particularly for large bandwidth buyers that need upgrades and route diversity without long lead times. Tata Communications framed this as an advantage over more conventional consortium arrangements.

What executives said about demand and investment

A.S. Lakshminarayanan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tata Communications, highlighted the rising pace of data needs and said it is important not only to build new undersea cables but also to maintain existing infrastructure.

Genius Wong, Executive Vice President – Core and Next-Gen Connectivity Services and Chief Technology Officer, Tata Communications, said the company remains committed to investing in subsea cable systems to meet customers’ demand for scalable, diverse, and high-performance connectivity solutions.

India’s subsea landing station context

The material also provided broader context on India’s international subsea cable footprint. India currently hosts around 17 international subsea cables across 14 distinct landing stations located in Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Tuticorin and Trivandrum.

This landing infrastructure is critical to route diversity and resilience, but the functioning of the broader network still depends on international segments and choke points such as the Red Sea corridor. That makes both new cable integrations and repair access important to service continuity.

ADC build specifics: length, vendor, and design capacity

Tata Communications also referenced the wider ADC project background. The ADC consortium selected NEC Corporation to construct a 9,400-kilometer ADC cable, expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022.

The cable was described as featuring multiple pairs of high-capacity optical fibres and designed to carry more than 140 Tbps of traffic. The consortium said such capacity is meant to support bandwidth-intensive applications tied to 5G, cloud platforms, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, and to enhance communications network expansion across East and Southeast Asia.

Earlier Tata Global Network milestones mentioned

The background notes also pointed to earlier Tata Communications subsea assets. On March 22, 2012, Tata Communications announced the launch of its Tata Global Network – Eurasia (TGN-EA) cable, described as connecting Europe to India through Egypt.

Tata Communications said the 9,280 km TGN-EA system offers round-trip delay around 92 milliseconds, with speeds from 2Mbit/s to 10Gbit/s available. It also referenced the March 22, 2012 announcement of its TGN-Gulf subsea cable system, described as connecting the Gulf to Mumbai and onward to the rest of the Tata Global Network.

Key facts snapshot

Market impact and why it matters

For businesses buying global connectivity, the combination of new capacity and route diversity can reduce dependency on a single path and help manage latency and uptime. Tata Communications is positioning TGN-IA2 as an intra-Asia route with scalable bandwidth, while also tying it to onward connectivity into the US, Europe, EMEA, and India through its existing assets.

At the same time, the Red Sea repair request highlights the operational side of subsea networks. Even with multiple cables, incidents and repair delays on key corridors can affect network performance, pushing traffic to alternate routes. The company’s emphasis on maintaining existing infrastructure aligns with how customers evaluate carrier-grade networks, focusing on resilience as much as expansion.

Conclusion

Tata Communications’ June 2025 integration of TGN-IA2 expands its intra-Asia subsea options and is being pitched as a flexible, scalable addition that can be provisioned quickly. In parallel, its request for DoT support to use diplomatic channels for Red Sea cable repairs underscores the importance of maintainability in global subsea infrastructure. Further clarity will depend on updates on repair coordination and any additional details the company shares on rollout and customer enablement for TGN-IA2.