The MIST cable, announced late in 2019, which will link multiple Asian countries, has added two more stopping points, as NEC has come on board as a construction partner.

and NEC have announced an agreement to build MIST, a cable system which

The 8,100km optical submarine cable, originally announced by Orient Link Pte Ltd. (OLL) and NTT, will offer a design capacity of more than 216 terabits per second (Tbps), and will now connect Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and India. It is expected to be complete in the the third quarter of 2022 - a delay from the original completion date of june 2022. In India, MIST will land at Mumbai and Chennai.

Mist forecast

When it was originally announced late last year by NTT (NTT is a shareholder of OLL), the plan was to land in Myanmar, India, and Singapore; MIST is an abbreviation for “Myanmar, India, Singapore Transit”.

The updated plan adds Malaysia and Thailand and is the likely cause of the delayed schedule.

MIST will enhance and contribute to the expansion of communications networks from Asia, according to NEC, improving network redundancy and delivering highly reliable communications. It will also expand onward connectivity options in the Bay of Bengal with its landing at Myanmar and Chennai.

“Globally, India and Southeast Asia are among the world's fastest-growing economies. I am very pleased to announce the launch of MIST, providing a truly connected India to our clients around the world, delivering high-quality, low-latency networks to the people in India as the nation charges forward with its digital transformation roadmap,” said Yoshio Sato, CEO of OLL. "OLL has selected NEC as a supply partner whose extensive experience in expeditiously implementing submarine cable systems will play a key role in our project's success."

“In recent years, we have been supplying the majority of submarine cables in the region and this project enables NEC to continue contributing to advanced infrastructure for serving growing traffic demands …we intend to fully capitalize on our regional expertise in Southeast Asia and India to ensure the successful completion of this project,” said Atsushi Kuwahara, GM of Submarine Network Division at NEC.