SUB.CO announces Oman Australia Cable to link Australia to EMEA via submarine network

Oct. 28, 2019

As its name implies, OAC will link Muscat, Oman to Perth, Australia. SUB.CO asserts OAC will be the first express submarine network to link Australia and the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region.

Stephen Hardy

SUB.CO, a new company founded by submarine cable industry veteran Bevan Slattery, has announced its intention to build the Oman Australia Cable (OAC) system. As its name implies, OAC will link Muscat, Oman to Perth, Australia. SUB.CO asserts OAC will be the first express submarine network to link Australia and the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region. SubCom (formerly TE SubCom) will handle the submarine cable’s deployment.

The initial vision for OAC includes three fiber pairs, although SUB.CO says it will increase that to four fiber pairs should demand warrant it. The submarine network will run approximately 9700 km and include branching units to land in Salalah, Oman, and Djibouti in the future. The route will avoid the Sunda Strait and the South China Sea. Manufacturing should begin this year, with deployment expected to be completed by December 2021.

Perth has become a hotbed of submarine cable activity, with such systems as ASC, Indigo West, and Indigo Central landing there. Muscat in Oman, meanwhile, has seen 15 submarine cables terminate there. Equinix plans a new facility under a joint venture with Omantel (see "Equinix, Omantel partner for data center").

“I am delighted to be building a new, express route providing diversity and low latency between Australia and EMEA, while at the same time avoiding some of the challenges associated with building through the shallows of the Sunda Strait and busy South China Sea,” commented Slattery, who has been involved in such submarine network initiatives as the Indigo cables (see “Alcatel Submarine Networks tapped for INDIGO undersea cable system”), APX-West, and PPC-1. “For me, the Oman Australia Cable is the final piece of an important puzzle to improve Australia’s resiliency and recognizes the growing importance of Oman in becoming the new ‘Cloud hub’ in EMEA.”

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About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.