BHUBANESWAR: Pune-based digital infrastructure company Shreetech Data Ltd has evinced interest in laying Odisha’s first-ever undersea cable and set up a carrier-neutral cable landing station (CLS) at Puri.
The company has proposed to rope in Orange Business, a global leader in subsea cable systems, to execute the project that could transform the state’s digital connectivity and position it as a major data gateway on the eastern coast.
The proposed CLS is expected to enhance Odisha’s digital ecosystem by enabling hyperscale data centres, attracting telecom operators, cloud service providers and IT/ITES companies, while sharply reducing latency and improving international bandwidth availability.
Sources said, Shreetech has proposed to invest the entire capital and operational expenditure, estimated at around `1,700 crore, for development of the CLS and associated subsea cable infrastructure. The execution with Orange Business will be on a revenue-sharing basis and Shreetech will also undertake operations and maintenance for 25 years.
Orange Business, a global leader, has laid around 2,88,000 km of submarine fiber and has the largest marine fleet to deliver maintenance of the fiber cable laid underwater.
Shreetech has sought around five acre land in Puri, in and around the Jagannath Sanskrit University area for the CLS.
“The proposal has been submitted through the single-window GO-SWIFT portal and is expected to be reviewed by the high-level clearance authority chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in its next meeting,” sources said. Once operational, the CLS will also promote the state’s emergence as a premier destination for global capability centres (GCCs) and enterprises.
Earlier, the state government had decided to set up the cable station and RailTel had prepared a comprehensive detailed project report, following which expressions of interest (EOI) have already been invited.
Contacted, principal secretary of Electronics and IT department Vishal Kumar Dev said Shreetech Data Ltd has submitted a proposal for the CLS and it is being examined.