Union Minister for IT and Electronics, Ashwini Vaishnaw, pitched on Tuesday for developing the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the next major hub for global internet data transfer, citing the region’s strategic geographic location.
Speaking at the Bharat AI Shakti event, the Minister explained his vision:
"Why can't we make Andaman the next big hub for global Internet data transfer? Andaman can actually help Google and every other Internet-based organization to reach Southeast Asia, Australia, and a large part of the world, which is today looking at totally new capacity".
Augmenting connectivity to the Northeast
During his address, Minister Vaishnaw also called for the submarine cable to be extended from the Andaman Islands to Myanmar and subsequently to India's northeastern states.
He specifically asked companies to establish a link from Vizag (Visakhapatnam) to Sittwe in Myanmar to bring the cable further north. Vaishnaw emphasised the need for this augmentation: “The current connectivity that we are providing via the railway networks, the Railtel network, requires significant augmentation. If we can really go via Myanmar to Mizoram... so that we can take the cable up to the northeastern states, because northeastern states require much better connectivity”.
The Minister added that a railway line has already been laid up to Sairang in Mizoram, and the Prime Minister has directed its extension to the Myanmar border, where a highway is also under construction from Sittwe.
Google’s major AI investment
The Minister’s proposal came as tech giant Google simultaneously announced its largest-ever investment in India: USD 15 billion to build an AI hub in Andhra Pradesh. This project will include a gigawatt-scale data center in Visakhapatnam, built in partnership with the Adani Group.
Google has also partnered with Bharti Airtel for the project. Airtel will establish a state-of-the-art Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Visakhapatnam to host Google's new international subsea cables. Additionally, the telecom provider will manage a robust, high-capacity, low-latency intra-city and inter-city fiber network to boost resilience and capacity, optimising the facility to handle demanding AI workloads in India.
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