Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands (KLI-SOFC)

Overview

The Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands (KLI-SOFC) cable is a domestic Indian submarine cable system connecting the mainland port city of Kochi to the scattered islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago. Spanning 1,989 kilometres, it is an entirely intra-national system, with all twelve landing points located within India. The cable serves a geographically dispersed island chain situated in the Arabian Sea, providing submarine connectivity between the Indian mainland and a group of islands that are otherwise isolated from terrestrial network infrastructure.

Route and Landings

All landing points on the KLI-SOFC system are located in India. On the mainland, the cable lands at Kochi in the state of Kerala. Across the Lakshadweep Islands, the system reaches eleven island landing points: Agatti, Amini, Andrott, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kadmat, Kalpeni, Kavaratti, Kiltan, and Minicoy. This breadth of island landings reflects the dispersed geography of the Lakshadweep group, with the cable extending connectivity across the full extent of the archipelago.

Ownership and Operators

The KLI-SOFC cable is owned and operated solely by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), India's state-owned telecommunications provider. As a government undertaking, BSNL is responsible for delivering telecommunications infrastructure across India, including in remote and underserved regions such as island territories.

Status and Timeline

The KLI-SOFC cable became ready for service in 2024, bringing submarine fibre connectivity to the Lakshadweep Islands.

Regional Context

India is also a landing point for several large international submarine cable systems, including 2Africa, the Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1), SeaMeWe-6, the Europe India Gateway (EIG), IMEWE, and the planned Project Waterworth — all of which span intercontinental distances ranging from roughly 12,000 to 50,000 kilometres. The KLI-SOFC system differs fundamentally in purpose and scale: rather than linking India to overseas destinations, it addresses domestic connectivity between the Indian mainland and an island group that lacks any overland network path. At 1,989 kilometres, it is a compact, purpose-built system in a corridor defined entirely by India's internal geography.

Strategic Role

By landing at eleven islands across the Lakshadweep archipelago, the KLI-SOFC cable provides a dedicated fibre connection to communities that are geographically separated from the Indian mainland by open sea. The system extends terrestrial-grade connectivity to a set of islands distributed across the Arabian Sea, linking each of them directly to Kochi. The concentration of twelve landing points within a single island group reflects the cable's focus on broad intra-archipelago coverage rather than long-haul international transmission.