London: Bharti Airtel and 15 other leaders of the global telecommunications industry have signed a deal to build the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fibre undersea cable system from Britain to India.

The 700 million-pound Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system is expected to "significantly enhance capacity and diversity" between the countries of three continents, the EIG consortium said.

Sixteen telecommunications companies are investing in the project: AT&T, Bharti Airtel, BT, Cable & Wireless, Djibouti Telecom, Du, Gibtelecom, IAM, Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company, MTN Group Ltd, Omantel, PT Comunicacoes S.A., Saudi Telecom Company, Telecom Egypt, Telkom SA Ltd and Verizon Business.

The 15,000-km cable system, targeted to be operational in the second quarter of 2010, will connect Asia, Africa and Europe.

Thirteen landings are planned along the cable's route: Britain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates and India.

In addition to serving these countries, the EIG cable system will also provide seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.