Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503) announced today that it has completed the upgrade and the expansion of the South East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) Cable System on February 3, 2015.

The SEA-ME-WE 4 Cable System, which was commissioned in 2005, is an ultra-high-capacity fiber optic submarine cable system linking South East Asia to Western Europe via the Middle East. The cable network, measuring approximately 20,000 kilometers and linking 16 landing stations, is owned by a consortium of 16 leading telecom carriers in 14 countries.

Mitsubishi Electric supplied its 100G MF-6900GWS Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE) with incorporated superior coherent technology for all 16 landing stations to upgrade the current 40 gigabit per second (Gbps) cable system to 100Gbps and expand the ultimate design capacity from 2,800Gbps to 4,600Gbps. The new SLTE doubled the data capacity per rack and reduce power consumption per unit of data volume by 47% for each station.

Mitsubishi Electric has been a leader in submarine cable systems ever since supplying the world's first 5Gbps optically amplified repeaters for TPC-5 project in 1994. Subsequently, in 1999 Mitsubishi Electric supplied the world's first 10Gbps submarine transmission technology for transoceanic cables. The incorporation of 40Gbps transmission technology into the TAT-14 cable network (May 2011), Asia-America Gateway (November 2011) and the IMEWE (India – Middle East – Western Europe) Cable System (December 2011) established Mitsubishi Electric's reputation worldwide as a leader in the move towards the terabit era. In 2013, Mitsubishi Electric completed development of its 100Gbps transmission technology, which is expected to revolutionize people’s style of communication.

Development of 100G SLTE incorporating superior coherent technology was partly supported by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication R&D projects for “High Speed Optical Transport System Technologies” and “High-speed Optical Edge Node Technologies.”

About the Consortium

The 16 SEA-ME-WE 4 parties in 14 countries which have contracted for the upgrade are Algerie Telecom S.p.A (Algeria), Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (Bangladesh), Bharti Airtel Limited (India), CAT Telecom Public Company Limited (Thailand), Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (UAE), Orange S.A (France), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (Pakistan), Saudi Telecom Company (Saudi Arabia), Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singapore), Sri Lanka Telecom (Sri Lanka), Tata Communications Limited (India), Telecom Egypt (Egypt), Telecom Italia Sparkle S.p.A (Italy), Telekom Malaysia Berhad (Malaysia), Tunisie Telecom (Tunisia), Verizon France (France) and Verizon (USA).

About Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

With over 90 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503) is a recognized world leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and building equipment. Embracing the spirit of its corporate statement, Changes for the Better, and its environmental statement, Eco Changes, Mitsubishi Electric endeavors to be a global, leading green company, enriching society with technology. The company recorded consolidated group sales of 4,054.3 billion yen (US$ 39.3 billion*) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. For more information visit http://www.MitsubishiElectric.com

*At an exchange rate of 103 yen to the US dollar, the rate given by the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on March 31, 2014