Global Consortium, NEC Begin Construction Of US$250 Mln SEA-US Cable System

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, March 31 (Bernama) -- A global consortium of telecommunications companies, formed to build and operate the Southeast Asia-United States (SEA-US) submarine cable system, officially announced the start of construction for the landmark project, the first to directly connect Indonesia and the United States. NEC Corporation and NEC Corporation of America are the system suppliers for the US$250 million project that is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016. In a statement, NEC said the SEA-US system will link the five areas and territories of Manado in Indonesia; Davao in Southern Philippines; Piti in the territory of Guam; as well as Honolulu (on the island of Oahu), Hawaii; and Los Angeles, California in the continental US. Naoki Yoshida, general manager of NEC’s Submarine Network Division, said that as one of the world’s top vendors of submarine cable systems, NEC is honoured to begin construction on this new 100G trans-oceanic submarine cable system that will span nearly 15,000 kilometers. "This cable promises to expand connectivity and capacity as well as contribute to the economies of Southeast Asia and the US. "The construction of this advanced system enables NEC to capitalise on more than 40 years of experience, laying over 200,000 kilometers of submarine cable infrastructure and contributing to worldwide communications. "Through this undertaking, NEC will continue to dedicate its strength to the development of telecommunication infrastructure in these regions and other countries across the globe,” he said. The cable system has been designed and engineered to bypass earthquake-prone areas in East Asia, thereby providing a strategic diversity in the range of connectivity to trans-Pacific networks with ensured stable connectivity. It will provide an initial 20 terabits per second (Tb/s) capacity, with state-of-the-art 100 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) technology. This capacity will help meet the exponentially growing demand for bandwidth between Southeast Asia and North America in unparalleled performance, especially for those two ASEAN countries. With further connectivity using existing and planned submarine cable systems in the region, other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Papua New Guinea and Australia can enjoy the benefits of the SEA-US. The SEA-US consortium consists of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Globe Telecom, RAM Telecom International (RTI), Hawaiian Telcom, Teleguam Holdings (GTA), GTI Corporation (a member of the Globe Telecom group of companies) and Telkom USA. -- BERNAMA