Consortium announces Asia Direct Cable, NEC as submarine cable deployer

June 15, 2020

The submarine cable network will link China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Stephen Hardy

NEC Corp. (NEC; TSE: 6701) says it has won a contact to install the Asia Direct Cable. The submarine cable network will link China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. NEC expects to complete deployment of the 9,400-km submarine network by the fourth quarter of 2022.

A consortium of CAT, China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT Inc., Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications, and Viettel will back the Asia Direct Cable (ADC). The multi-fiber-pair undersea system will have a design capacity of 140 Tbps. The additional capacity the submarine cable will supply to the region will help support such growing service niches as 5G, cloud, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.

"The ADC system provides the highest cable capacity and necessary diversity for Asia's key information hubs, which will enable carriers and service providers to better plan their networks and services for a sustainable development," said Chang Weiguo, one of the consortium co-chairs from China Telecom.

"This new system will contribute to drive the Asian ICT business growth as one of the core infrastructures in the region and to meet the evolving marketplace,” added Co-Chair Koji Ishii of SoftBank. “As a leading submarine cable system vendor, NEC has successfully provided many trans-Asia submarine cable systems, making the company the most reliable choice for the ADC supply partner."

"As the supplier of the ADC Cable, NEC continues to support critical infrastructure in Asia. This advanced optical fiber submarine cable system will provide seamless connectivity to the countries it lands in and the regions it services," commented Atsushi Kuwahara, general manager, Submarine Network Division, NEC Corp. "NEC is impressed by the level of commitment from members of the ADC Consortium, and will fully capitalize on our regional expertise to support ADC and to ensure the successful completion of this project."

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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.