Nationwide Submarine Cable Ooredoo Maldives (NaSCOM)

Overview

The Nationwide Submarine Cable Ooredoo Maldives, commonly known as NaSCOM, is a domestic submarine cable system serving the Maldives. Spanning 1,136 km, it operates entirely within Maldivian waters, connecting multiple atolls and islands across the country's widely dispersed archipelago. The cable is owned and operated by Ooredoo Maldives, the Maldivian subsidiary of the Ooredoo Group, a telecommunications operator headquartered in Qatar.

Route and Landings

NaSCOM lands at six points across the Maldives, distributed along the length of the archipelago. These landing stations are located in Eydhafushi, Hithadhoo, Hulhumale, Kolhufushi, Kulhudhufushi, and Thinadhoo. Together, these sites span geographically distant atolls from the far north to the far south of the island chain, reflecting the cable's purpose of providing island-wide connectivity.

Ownership and Operators

NaSCOM is solely owned by Ooredoo Maldives. As a single-owner domestic cable, it was built to extend the operator's network infrastructure across the Maldivian archipelago, reaching communities on islands that would otherwise be difficult to serve through terrestrial means alone.

Status and Timeline

NaSCOM entered service in 2016. It has since served as Ooredoo Maldives' primary domestic cable infrastructure, interconnecting the six landing points spread across the country.

Regional Context

The Maldives is served by several submarine cable systems, ranging from short domestic networks to long international routes. NaSCOM, at 1,136 km, is a purely domestic system and sits alongside the Dhiraagu Cable Network, another domestic Maldivian cable of comparable scale. In contrast, international cables such as FALCON, PEACE, the India Asia Xpress, and SeaMeWe-6 connect the Maldives to global networks spanning tens of thousands of kilometres. The Maldives Sri Lanka Cable provides a shorter regional link to a neighbouring country. NaSCOM's role is distinct from these international systems, as it addresses intra-archipelago connectivity rather than external routing.

Strategic Role

By linking six landing points distributed across the Maldivian archipelago, NaSCOM enables Ooredoo Maldives to deliver connectivity to islands and atolls that are separated by open ocean. The 1,136 km total length reflects the geographic challenge of serving a nation composed of hundreds of small islands spread over a vast area of the Indian Ocean. The cable supports the provision of telecommunications services to communities across the full north-to-south extent of the country.