RCom to pump in 600 million USD on submarine cable

The system, which will connect its base in India with Italy to the West and Hong Kong on the East, is expected to treble revenues in five years for its wholly-owned subsidiary Global Cloud Exchange, which is laying the cable, the company said here on Tuesday. 

It is expected to be operational by the Q3 of 2020 and will have a revenue potential of 1 billion USD per year, RCom’s Chief Executive Bill Barney said. The new cable will increase its total capacity by ten times as against the current capacity, he added. 

Saddled with a debt of Rs 45,000 crore, the Anil Ambani-led firm exited the consumer-facing wireless business late last year, to focus on the enterprise segment. The size, billed as the “new RCom,” is much smaller but it is expected to be much leaner. 

Late last month it sold its spectrum to elder brother-run Reliance Jio for an estimated Rs 23,000 crore which helped it skirt a slew of insolvency petitions and eventual liquidation. 

The cable will be financed by partners, whose numbers can go up till 30, he said, adding the company expects to get over $ 700 mn through such pre-sales as against the cost of 600 million USD.