Honolulu-based telecommunications company Hawaiian Telcom (NASDAQ: HCOM) announced that the Southeast Asia-United States (SEA-US) undersea cable system is complete and ready for commercial service. The 9,000-mile submarine fiber-optic cable system covers a route that bypasses congested, earthquake-prone regions, and will link Indonesia, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and California, according to Hawaiian Telcom.
The $250 million undersea fiber cable system will meet increasing demand for internet service. Providing 100-Gbps broadband speeds to Hawaii, the SEA-US cable has a 20-Tbps capacity, and will accommodate greater capacities as technology advances, says Hawaiian Telcom, part-owner and operator of the long-haul submarine network.
With existing trans-Pacific cables reaching the end of their lifespan and new undersea cables bypassing Hawaii, the state's economic future was uncertain, says Hawaiian Telcom, referencing a report completed by the University of Hawai'i Applied Research Laboratory and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Based on this report, the company has invested in the new system to prevent Hawaii's internet access from being interrupted as the lifespan of existing submarine cables comes to an end.
"Hawaiian Telcom and the other members of the SEA-US consortium have provided our state with critical infrastructure and virtually unlimited connectivity across the Pacific that effectively ensures our economic vitality today and into the future," said Hawaii's Governor David Ige.
Hawaiian Telcom is one of seven companies that constitute the SEA-US consortium, which established the undersea cable system in 2015 (see "SEA-US submarine cable system deployment begins"). The system will be owned and operated by the consortium members: Hawaiian Telcom, Globe Telecom (Manila, Philippines), GTA (Tamuning, Guam), GTI (Los Angeles, California), RTI (San Francisco, California), Telin (Jakarta, Indonesia), and Telin USA (Los Angeles, California).
"We're proud to be part of this significant achievement for Hawaii as SEA-US is the most technologically advanced trans-Pacific cable system that will meet the growing broadband demands between the U.S. and Asia," said Scott Barber, Hawaiian Telcom president and CEO. "This landmark cable system ensures Hawaiian Telcom has the capacity to cost-effectively support bandwidth requirements of cloud, streaming video, internet of things, and new applications that spur innovation and economic growth for Hawaii's residents and businesses."
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