Henox launches CREST subsea cable to widen India links

Henox IT and Data Centres has launched CREST, a carrier-neutral coastal submarine cable system in India intended to add new landing points for international connectivity along the country's coastline.

Known as the Coastal Route Express Subsea Trunk, the project is designed to reduce reliance on a small number of existing coastal gateways that handle much of India's international traffic.

CREST will establish landing hubs in Gujarat, Mangaluru, Kochi, Chennai and Visakhapatnam. Each site is designed as an open point of presence where carriers can connect their own networks, exchange traffic and extend subsea and terrestrial routes without relying on a single operator's infrastructure.

India's data-centre market has expanded quickly as cloud providers, large enterprises and AI-related workloads have increased demand for computing capacity and international network links. That has drawn greater attention to the subsea cable systems and landing stations that connect the country to overseas markets.

Most of that traffic still lands at a limited number of locations, creating concentration risk as volumes rise. CREST is intended to spread that load across more sites and provide more direct route options for operators serving the Indian market.

Route design

From Gujarat, the system is planned to connect to the UAE, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. On the east coast, the Visakhapatnam landing will interconnect with the SubConnex system for onward links to Singapore, Malaysia and the United States.

This layout would give the network a role on both India's western and eastern seaboards, while creating the basis for traffic flows between major digital markets on either side of the country. Henox said the system is intended to position India not only as an end market for international capacity, but also as a transit point.

CREST will operate on an open-access model. Capacity will be offered as fibre pairs, spectrum, indefeasible rights of use and managed services to international carriers, hyperscalers, cloud and content providers, enterprises and data-centre operators.

Henox also plans to link the cable project with cable landing stations, edge data centres and compute infrastructure. The approach is intended to bring connectivity and processing closer together at the landing points, where demand linked to data centres and AI services is rising.

Partner role

APTelecom has been appointed technical and commercial partner for the project. According to Henox, it will support strategic planning, commercial development, ecosystem engagement and international partnerships.

The project is moving through engineering validation, partner engagement and commercial development, with construction planned in phases. Additional landing points and onward routes may be added as demand increases.

The launch comes as India seeks to expand digital infrastructure to meet rising use of cloud services and AI applications. Subsea cable projects have become a focal point for operators and investors because international data routes are a critical part of how data centres, cloud networks and enterprise systems connect with overseas markets.

Carrier-neutral landing facilities are also drawing interest because they can give multiple network operators access on similar terms, rather than concentrating traffic through a single owner's network. Henox said that model is central to the CREST design.

"CREST is a milestone for India's digital infrastructure," said Shaktivel K, Chief Executive Officer of Henox IT and Data Centres.

"It is nation-building infrastructure that diversifies how India connects to the world and will help power the country's AI growth for years to come," K said.