The Hong Kong-Americas (HKA) consortium and submarine cable system supplier Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) have announced a contract signing for deployment of the Hong Kong-Americas (HKA) submarine cable network. The undersea cable systems, which will span more than 13,000 km, joins a growing number of new fiber cable deployments across the Pacific.

The six-fiber-pair submarine network will run between Chung Hom Kok in Hong Kong to Hermosa Beach in California. The design supports what the partners termed "additional connectivity options" that may extend the submarine cable's footprint. Deployment of the undersea cable system is scheduled for 2020.

Alcatel Submarine Networks says the technology it will supply includes its submarine wavelength-selective switch (WSS) ROADM units, which can enable more than 80 Tbps of capacity. The ROADM units also are compatible with upcoming submarine line terminal equipment that will leverage probabilistic shaping technology (see "Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, Nokia Bell Labs report 65-Tbps transmission via probabilistic constellation shaping").

The HKA consortium includes China Telecom, China Unicom, Facebook, Tata Communications, and Telstra as the major parties. The system joins a growing list of new and recent transpacific submarine cables, including Hawaiki, JUPITER, New Cross Pacific, and Pacific Light Cable Network, among others.

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