India and China, two of the world’s fastest growing economies, will soon benefit from a direct underground terrestrial link offering seamless connectivity to customers transiting India or China to reach key global destinations.

Bharti Airtel and China Telecom Corporation have announced the new link. Offering data speeds of up to 40Gbps, the underground network, will be built on resilient ring infrastructure and will represent Bharti Airtel’s third International Gateway for customers in India.

The network has been constructed by Bharti Airtel and China Telecom (News - Alert) in their respective territories from Siliguri to Nathula border in India and Nathula border to Yadong in China. The surging international traffic and diversity requirements of both the nations will be addressed by the network. In India, the high speed network spans from Siliguri gateway to Nathula via Pedong on one path and the second path will reach Siliguri from Nathula via Gangtok, forming a ring.

In order to develop the Network-to-Network Interconnect which allows for seamless access to the combined regional and global network resources of both the operators,  Bharti Airtel (News - Alert) has also outlined an MoU with China Telecom.

In a press release, Ajay Chitkara, CEO of Global Data Business at Bharti Airtel, commented: “The current economic boom in India and China has triggered a huge demand from global as well as domestic customers for connectivity in these nations. The launch of this India-China link further strengthens our commitment of creating state-of-the-art network for our customers through innovation, and connects the world’s two fastest growing economies on a low latency path.”

In related news, Bharti Airtel, a global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, has launched Kirusa Voice SMS across its network in Ghana.