Consortium inks Japan-U.S. undersea cable construction deal

By STEPHEN HARDY

An international consortium of 33 companies, including 14 carriers, has signed a construction and maintenance agreement to build the Japan-U.S. Cable Network. The 4-fiber undersea link will provide an initial capacity of 20 Gbits/sec per fiber pair, a figure expected to grow in the future to 160 Gbits/sec for each fiber pair.

In conjunction with the agreement, the consortium signed supply deals with Alcatel Submarine Networks of France and Fujitsu, nec, and kdd-scs of Japan for equipment and services to build the network. Construction of the undersea link should be completed by the middle of 2000.

The 21,000-km network will link San Luis Obispo and Point Arena, CA, with Kahe Point, HI, and Kita-Ibaraki, Shima, and Maruyama in Japan. Further connection to other Asian networks will be possible from Japan. The cable network will feature a self-healing Synchronous Digital Hierarchy ring architecture. Two of the four fiber pairs will be activated when the network first begins service.

Carriers who have joined the consortium include at&t, British Telecom, Cable & Wireless, gte, Japan Telecom, kdd, Level 3 Communications, mci, nttwn, Pacific Gateway Exchange, psinet, Qwest Communications International, sbc, Sprint, and WorldCom. The total investment of the 33 companies currently involved in the project exceeds $1 billion. That said, Ocapacity is available for sale to any party desiring to invest in the Japan-U.S. Cable Network,O according to a release issued by the consortium.

As reported previously, the Japan-U.S. Cable Network effort received a boost earlier this year when at&t decided to roll its plans for the tpc-6 transpacific cable into the project (see Lightwave, July 1998, page 1). The current roster of carriers includes several notable additions from that announced at the time of the combination of the two projects. Qwest, Level 3, and sbc are among the big names that have recently signed aboard.

The system?s southern route, linking Shima with Kahe Point and San Luis Obispo, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2000, with the northern route and ring closure following in the next quarter.

The network is one of several fiber-optic cables expected to cross the Pacific in the next few years. Primary competition should come from the China-U.S. cable system slated to be completed next year (see Lightwave, February 1998, page 1) and the Pacific Crossing network now under construction by Global Crossing Ltd. (see Lightwave, February 1998, page 1). However, most observers believe that the expanding telecommunications market will lead service providers to line up for whatever capacity may still be available on these three networks when they reach completion. q