A new domestic Maldivan subsea cable from Dhiraagu and Ooredoo has landed on the island of Hulhumalé in the North Malé Atoll.
Dubbed the Domestic Submarine Cable of Maldives (DSCoM), the telecommunications cable has five segments and will connect eight islands in the Maldives including Hulhumale’, Maafushi, Maamigili, and Kudahuvadhoo.
The subsea cable is expected to complete delivery including installation and system acceptance in Q1 2024.
The geography of the Maldives is complicated by the majority of its coastline being made up of coral reefs and having very steep terrain - between 20 to 40 degrees on average and reaching a maximum of 70 degrees at the reef edge. Not only is it important to avoid damaging the coral reefs, the cable itself needs to be armored carefully to also avoid harm.
The DSCoM is designed with inner vault steel wires giving it hydrostatic resistance and tensile strength.
Plans to expand the cable in the Maldives were announced in October 2022 and were for an additional four segments with a combined length of 168.5km, and was expected to be completed in Q4, 2023. According to that announcement, the subsea cable system already spanned 1,253km.
Dhiraagu is the Maldives' first telecommunications company and was founded in 1988 as part of a joint venture of the Maldivian government and Cable & Wireless.
Qatari telecoms company Ooredoo built a data center on the island of Hulhumale', the Maldives, in its smart city in March 2021.
In August 2023, the IAX subsea cable landed on the island, a project initiated by Ocean Connect Maldives. That subsea cable connects to Sri Lanka.
Hulhumalé is a reclaimed artificial island built up by pumping sand from the sea floor. Work began on the 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) island in 1997 and it was inaugurated in 2004. It is the fourth largest of the 187 inhabited islands in the Maldives.
