Global Insight Perspective | |
Significance | The US$300-million cable system will link Japan and United States. |
Implications | The new cable is among a series of submarine cable projects currently undertaken by Asian operators. |
Outlook | The cable will provide increased capacity to sustain strong growth in data and internet traffic between Asia and the United States. |
The other members of the consortium include U.S.-based internet search company Google, Japan's KDDI, India's Bharti Airtel, Malaysian internet company Global Transit and Pacnet, a telecoms company headquartered in Singapore. The US$300-million cable system, named Unity, will span 10,000 km across the Pacific Ocean, linking Chikura in Japan directly to Los Angeles in the United States. It is expected to be ready for service in the first quarter of 2010. Using state-of-the-art Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, it will support up to 960 Gbits per second per fibre-optic pair with a maximum of eight fibre pairs. By having a higher fibre count, it is able to offer more capacity at lower unit costs. Unity will have a potential design capacity of 7.68 Tbits per second, making it one of the highest capacity cables of its kind. NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications have been jointly awarded the contract to implement this project. "The Unity cable system allows the members of the consortium to provide the increased capacity needed as more applications and services migrate online," said Jayne Stowell, a spokesman for the consortium.
Outlook and Implications
This new submarine cable network, with its high capacity and resilient transmission infrastructure, will be able to meet the strong demand for data, e-commerce and internet traffic between Asia and the United States, said Mark Chong, SingTel’s Executive Vice President for Networks. As the system is connected to other cable systems in Asia, it will also provide access to other parts of the region and serve as an important cable diversity route. The agreement follows a number of major submarine cable projects announced by Asian carriers over the past year.
Recently Announced Submarine Cable Systems by Asian Operators | ||||
System | Announcement Date | Carriers | Landing Points | Expected Completion Date |
I-ME-WE | February 2008 | Bharti Airtel, Etisalat, France Telecom, Ogero, PTCL, STC, Telecom Egypt, TIS Sparkle and VSNL. | India to France via the Middle East. | By end-2009 |
TGN Eurasia | December 2007 | VSNL, SEACOM and Telecom Egypt | Mumbai to Paris, London, and Madrid via Egypt. | By end-2009 |
FLAG NGN System | September 2007 | FLAG Telecom | System 1—Asia: India to Hong Kong with potential interconnection to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Cambodia. | By March 2010 |
EAC Pacific | January 2007 | Asia Netcom | Northern route connecting Japan to the United States, and a southern route linking the Philippines to the United States via Guam and Hawaii, as well as a submarine link between the Philippines and Japan. | By July 2008 |
Trans-Pacific Express | December 2006 | China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, KT Corp, Chunghwa Telecom, and Verizon Business | China to U.S. west coast via Taiwan and South Korea. | By September 2008 |
Source: Companies, Global Insight | ||||
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