Southern Cross Cables Ltd. says it expects its Southern Cross NEXT submarine cable will land in Coogee, New South Wales, Australia, on or about December 14. The third and latest addition to Southern Cross’s submarine network portfolio will link Australia, New Zealand, and the United States with stops at the Pacific islands of Fiji, Tokelau, and Kiribati along the way.
Launched in 2017, the Southern Cross NEXT submarine cable will span approximately 15,857 km and offer 72 Tbps of capacity, more than three times the capacity of the company’s other two cables combined (20 Tbps). Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) will supply the optical transmission technology (see “Southern Cross to use Ciena GeoMesh Extreme on NEXT submarine cable system”). The deployment will cost approximately $350 million. Southern Cross expects the new undersea cable system will be ready for services in the second quarter of 2022.
“This cable will provide Australians with an incredible boost to its bandwidth needs at a time when data connectivity has never been higher,” said Southern Cross CEO Laurie Miller. “We’re increasingly working from home while streaming content at huge rates and in better quality than ever before. The addition of 72 terabits of capacity will provide Australians with a level of assurance that they’ll get the data they need when they need it,”
“Having a high-speed connection of this magnitude directly with the heart of US innovation in California will ensure Australians have the bandwidth they need to remain at the cutting edge of technology,” Miller concluded.
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